How California is bracing for a winter of floods, fires and extreme storms all at once

The Guardian reports the following. ENC is republishing it as an attributed briefing, not as independently confirmed fact. If this item is false or incomplete, the responsibility sits with The Guardian, which released it. The strongest El Niño recorded is expected to bring a cascade of hazards to a state still facing wildfire and heat risks, while budget cuts have weakened disaster response agencies • Don’t get Down to Earth delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Before this year, the US National Weather Service had never issued a September coastal flood advisory for the San Francisco Bay Area. In the past month, it has had to issue two. As flood water swallowed intersections and eroded beaches up and down the California coast last week, scientists and emergency managers warned that this is just an early signal of a coming tumultuous winter as an already exceptional El Niño continues to strengthen. It’s been called everything from “super” to “Godzilla”, as forecasters hammer home the message that conditions… Original link: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/08/how-california-is-bracing-for-a-winter-of-floods-fires-and-extreme-storms-all-at-once