美国国家公共电台 NPR--Another atmospheric river unleashes more storms in rain-soaked California

Another atmospheric¹ river unleashes² more storms in rain-soaked California

Transcript³

Several parts of California face threats of flooding from rain and melting snow as an atmospheric river sweeps across the state, which has been dealing⁴ with a series of extreme weather events.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Winter storms on both coasts have wreaked⁵ havoc⁶ in several states.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Residents of Pajaro, time to evacuate⁷. Water is coming.

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

A powerful nor'easter has swept through parts of the Northeast. It dumped heavy snow and caused power outages for hundreds of thousands of people, plus hazardous⁸ roads and school closures. In already rain-soaked California, a new storm there is just the latest in a series of extreme weather events that have battered⁹ that coast. Rain and wind knocked out power and flooded communities.

FADEL: Jerimiah Oetting of member station KAZU is in Monterey County, Calif., and he joins us now. Good morning.

JERIMIAH OETTING, BYLINE¹⁰: Good morning.

FADEL: So let's start with where you are - the Monterey Bay area. What are you seeing there?

OETTING: Well, there wasn't as much rain with this latest storm as we expected, and these storms have been relentless¹¹ this year. This is the 11th atmospheric river to hit California so far this season. The bad news is there was a lot of wind. Up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the winds were gusting¹² up to 97 miles an hour. That brought down a lot of trees, closed roads, caused power outages. And all of that is slowing down recovery from previous storms in places like the town of Pajaro. That's where a levee failed over the weekend, flooding the community and causing thousands to flee their homes.

Power outages have really been a consistent theme of these storms here. Last weekend, there were over 35,000 residents in Monterey County without power for days, some even without cell service. So with all the wind, we're seeing some of those impacts continue.

FADEL: So really an unprecedented¹³ year weather-wise in California. How are other parts of the state doing?

OETTING: There are currently over 200,000 Californians without power. And again, that's largely due to wind. The National Weather Service had high wind warnings in the Bay Area, Sacramento Valley, the Sierra Foothills. And out in the Sierra Nevada, they've had a really historic snow year. But this most recent storm was warmer, so now there's rain on snow. And that's causing this huge snowpack that's accumulated in the mountains to really melt fast, which is bringing the risk of flooding to communities downstream. It also makes the snow heavier, which increases avalanche¹⁴ risk in mountain communities like Lake Tahoe. But despite all this, I think people are really feeling a sense of relief because the storm was just not as bad as expected.

FADEL: Especially after all that they've already seen. So how are people coping? What kind of help are they getting?

OETTING: Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency for 40 of California's 58 counties. President Joe Biden, who's been visiting California recently, also issued a federal emergency declaration. And that opens up a lot of funds and resources and support to help these communities recover. Locally, here in Monterey County, the food bank is kicked into high gear. Some of the local hotels and - are offering discounts. The county has provided shelter options for the thousands of evacuees¹⁵ at this point. So all that happened here, but there were reports of this kind of volunteer and first responder work happening in other communities as well.

FADEL: What about the people who were forced to evacuate? You mentioned at least thousands in Monterey County. Any sense of when they'll be able to return to their homes?

OETTING: Well, we do have a break in the rain coming up, and that will help crews open up roads and reestablish power and really help a lot of people across California kind of clean up. But I will say, for lower-income communities, like small agricultural towns like Pajaro here in Monterey County, it really is a different story. After the aging levee failed, the whole town was underwater. And, you know, that levee was historically neglected. The federal government knew for decades it needed to be replaced. Now there's no word as to when it will be fixed¹⁶. And officials are saying, you know, it could be months before these residents can return home.

FADEL: Jerimiah Oetting from member station KAZU in Monterey County. Thanks, Jerimiah.

OETTING: Thank you.

1 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

2 unleashes   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• These findings qualify the common view that economic growth unleashes myriad discontents. 这些发现，纠正了一个普遍观点，即经济发展使人们尽情宣泄不满。 来自互联网
• This caster unleashes a storm of electric discharge on the enemy. 法师向敌人释放出一片电火花的风暴。 来自互联网

3 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。

4 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

5 wreaked   

诉诸（武力），施行（暴力），发（脾气）( wreak的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city. 地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• They have wreaked dreadful havoc among the wildlife by shooting and trapping. 他们射杀和诱捕野生动物，造成了严重的破坏。

6 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

7 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

8 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

9 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

10 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

11 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

12 gusting   

（风）猛刮（gust的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Then the treacherous North Atlantic struck, with hail, rain, lightning and gusting wind. 这时，气候变幻莫测的北大西洋出现了冰雹、大雨、闪电和狂风。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• Jeff: Sometimes, the partiality and miscarriage of justice are dis-gusting too. 杰夫： 有时，裁判的不公平和误判也真是令人讨厌的一件事情。

13 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

14 avalanche   

n.雪崩，大量涌来

参考例句：

• They were killed by an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.他们在瑞士阿尔卑斯山的一次雪崩中罹难。
• Higher still the snow was ready to avalanche.在更高处积雪随时都会崩塌。

15 evacuees   

n.被疏散者( evacuee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Moreover, for multi-exits, evacuees select a exit based on game theory. 在有多个出口时，疏散人员根据对策论选择出口。 来自互联网
• Evacuees wade through flooded area following heavy monsoon rains in Peshawar on Saturday, July 31, 2010. 撤离灾区涉水通过后在白沙瓦沉重的季风降雨在周六，2010年7月31日。 来自互联网

16 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。