Rainfall totals ‘impressive’ in Fresno, Valley as storms cause flooding and evacuations

Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley have tallied a considerable amount of rain in the past 24 hours, causing flooding and evacuations, meteorologists said Friday.

Between when the storm began Thursday afternoon and 12:30 p.m. Friday, 1.15 inches of rain fell on the Fresno Air Terminal sensor, according to Dan Harty, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Hanford.

“That’s a pretty good soaking,” he said. “In the Valley, anything over an inch is significant.”

The numbers get more impressive as the elevation climbs, he said. The same amount of time saw 3 to 5 inches in places like Yokuts Valley and Pine Flat, and 4.5 to 6 inches in the Sierra Nevada.

Predictions of rainfall had officials earlier this week calling the storm system “unrivaled, unparalleled” or unlike any storm in decades in the region.

Harty said the measurements are holding true.

“We are seeing the anticipated rainfall amounts,” he said. “It’s been quite an impressive hydrological event.”

The biggest part of the series of storms in an atmospheric river were from late Thursday and expected to continue into Friday night, he said.

A less powerful storm will drop rain, albeit less rain, on Saturday and Sunday, he said. Then after a short break another storm is set for Monday night into Tuesday morning.

The large amount of rain led to flash flood warnings in multiple parts of Fresno, Madera and Tulare counties. Madera and Tulare each issued evacuation orders to communities hit hard by floods.