California

Governor Declares State of Emergency For 50 Counties

Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday declared a state of emergency for 50 California counties that were drenched by December and January storms that caused tens of millions of dollars in damage. All nine Bay Area counties are on the list.

The proclamation is designed to provide state assistance to local governments coping with flooding, mudslides and erosion and to help obtain federal emergency funding to fix damaged roads and highways.

Brown's proclamation said the damage has created "conditions of extreme peril" to people and property.

These are the counties that were deemed severely affected by "severe winter storms:" Alameda, Alpine, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Humboldt, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura, Yolo, Yuba and Del Norte.

Nearly three years ago, Brown declared a state of emergency for the polar opposite reason — a drought. He demanded the state take necessary actions to reduce water consumption by 20 percent.

A chance of showers was expected to persist into early Tuesday before a ridge of high pressure brings fair weather through early next week -- a sharp turnabout from the hours of rain that hit Northern California over the weekend and Southern California on Sunday.

NBC Bay Area's Lisa Fernandez contributed to this report.

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