美国国家公共电台 NPR--An update from California's Office of Emergency Services on its severe weather

An update from California's Office of Emergency Services on its severe weather

Transcript¹

NPR's Dwayne Brown speaks with Brian Ferguson from California's office of emergency services. More than 17 people have died in the onslaught of storms in the state.

DWANE BROWN, HOST:

Strong winds and heavy rains have eased a bit and cleanup is underway this morning. So far in California, more than 17 people have died in the onslaught of storms. Much of the state remains² under some form of severe weather warning as flooding, fallen trees, downed power lines are making driving particularly dangerous. More rain, though, is in the forecast after some record-setting amounts. Brian Ferguson is with California's Office of Emergency Services and joins us now. Thanks for being here, Brian. Can you tell us right off the bat here where you're seeing the most damage from this weather right now?

BRIAN FERGUSON: Yeah, all across our central coast has been pummeled in recent days by six consecutive³ storms. We had aerial rescues throughout the area yesterday. We think we may have set a single-day record for the number of people who were rescued via helicopter. And it continues to be a very dangerous and dynamic situation - a bit of a break today, but two large storms massing in the Pacific that we're watching very closely. And because of so much saturation⁴ in the soil, so much water in the creeks⁵ and streams, that any additional amount of rain does become dangerous very quickly.

BROWN: Yeah. So the central coast hit the hardest so far. What areas are you most concerned about outside of that area or those areas?

FERGUSON: You know, we continue to watch all the areas where our sensitive populations are. We've had over 17 fatalities⁶, as you've referenced, which would already have made this, in wildfire terms, one of the top five deadliest incidents we've had in the history of our state. And unfortunately, we do anticipate that number will rise in the coming days. There are people missing. But this is an event that's impacted the whole of the state, from Humboldt up by the Oregon border all the way to San Diego and Orange County in the south. So, you know, one of the challenges of this incident is just how large and how geographically⁷ diverse the dangers are.

BROWN: That's right. More than half of California's 58 counties were declared disaster areas by the governor. What kind of assistance, Brian, is most needed now?

FERGUSON: The governor and president have talked multiple times, and we are lucky the president rapidly approved a federal disaster declaration. So we now have both personnel and resources from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and others. And they're actively⁸ working to set up shelters, do some of those air rescues we mentioned. And, you know, we are not done yet. We do anticipate that before this gets through, we're going to probably rise to a federal major disaster declaration. And the president's promised they're going to be with us throughout this disaster.

BROWN: Now, if I recall last year here in California, we got lots of rain around this time of the year, but it doesn't seem like as much as we've gotten lately. How does this natural disaster compare, say, to others California has seen lately?

FERGUSON: You know, one of the things that we're experiencing is a sort of weather whiplash where we've had four consecutive years of very dry weather - in fact, a declared drought. And then when we do get weather, it's all at once. And that does make it dangerous because it's been so dry that it - the creeks, streams, culverts almost become a bobsled track for that water to rapidly run down - or in other areas, it could lead to mudslides just because the soil has been so deteriorated⁹ by the drought. So, you know, the climate change impacts that we see in wildfire season very much impacted this area as well.

BROWN: Brian, thank you so much. We are drying out but, as you said, another couple of series of storms still headed our way. Brian Ferguson of Cal OES, thank you.

FERGUSON: Thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

4 saturation   

n.饱和(状态)；浸透

参考例句：

• The company's sales are now close to saturation in many western countries.这家公司的产品销售量在许多西方国家已接近饱和。
• Road traffic has reached saturation point.公路交通已达到饱和点。

5 creeks   

n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪

参考例句：

• The prospect lies between two creeks. 矿区位于两条溪流之间。 来自辞典例句
• There was the excitement of fishing in country creeks with my grandpa on cloudy days. 有在阴雨天和姥爷一起到乡村河湾钓鱼的喜悦。 来自辞典例句

6 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 geographically   

adv.地理学上，在地理上，地理方面

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe. 从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。 来自辞典例句
• All these events, however geographically remote, urgently affected Western financial centers. 所有这些事件，无论发生在地理上如何遥远的地方，都对西方金融中心产生紧迫的影响。 来自名作英译部分

8 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

9 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。