 Good morning. Thanks for joining us this morning. My name is Brian May with the comms team here at Cal OES. I want to provide you as broad of an update as we possibly can on the incoming storms and what the state is doing to make sure that all of our residents are ready and as prepared as possible. We'll start with David Lawrence from the National Weather Service. Good morning everyone. I am David Lawrence from the National Weather Service. I just want to provide a quick weather update across the state. The one thing I really want to stress right off the bat is for those folks living from the central coast generally from about Monterey County on down through San Luis Obispo counties into the southern San Joaquin Valley up against the foothills of the southern Sierra pay very close attention the next six hours or so. We are seeing some flash flooding that is very dangerous starting to develop likely to continue to see flash flooding as very heavy rainfall persists in that particular area the next six hours or so. So if you see new warnings or you see flooding be sure to be able to take very quick action to protect yourself from that flooding. As we push forward thankfully that rain will taper off later this evening into the overnight hours in terms of intensity but we will see additional rounds of both rain and heavy mountain snow redeveloped across much of northern and central California as we go through the weekend and we're also likely to see this weather pattern continuing as we go into at least the first half of next week with additional flooding concerns as well as wind concerns as very windy conditions continue across much of the state particularly the southern half. Beyond that it is likely that we will see additional rounds of precipitation perhaps into next weekend as well. So I really want to stress for folks to stay prepared for this particular weather situation as very dangerous conditions in terms of flooding and other weather hazards can are likely to develop pretty quickly. And with that said I'd like to turn it over to the director of Cal OES Nancy Ward. Thank you David and your warnings underscore the importance and the criticality of the storms that we have seen and we'll see over the next few days and maybe in even into another week. I'm Nancy Ward. I'm the director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services and thank you all today for coming and allowing us to update you on what's going on here at the state operation center and all throughout the state of California. The impacts of the extreme weather that we've been challenged with so far that have resulted so far with 15 shelters open in nine counties where the 9400 people under evacuation orders approximately 54,000 plus people without power. And unfortunately two deaths that have so far been confirmed by the coroner's office to be storm related thus far. The governor declared a state of emergency as you know for 34 counties allowing California to leverage the mutual aid system throughout California and move much needed critical resources throughout the state to those impacted counties that we know need our support quickly and we've prepositioned assets to them already. In addition, the governor last night requested a emergency deck from the president of the United States. It was approved this morning and as you see we already have our very important partner from FEMA here with us today and can speak to that. The declaration allows us the emergency, excuse me, state of emergency allows us also to be working with the counties to move much needed resources. We've prepositioned fire resources, hand crews, high water vehicles, search and rescue teams all to those areas that we have coordinated through the National Weather Service and our folks at DWR to have the most vulnerability with over topping of flood stage meters. We've also maintained course coordination with our local governments again for advanced planning. So not only just with what we are seeing coming today, tomorrow, but also what may hit us on Tuesday of next week as well. We appreciate all of the state support that we are getting from all of the folks and many more quite honestly that our state agencies, our federal partners, private agencies that we lean on heavily in these times to be able to scour the state with much needed resources so that we can minimize the unmet need from the counties that we know will be hit and vulnerable to these ongoing storms and flooding. But we want to remind Californians, as always, that they have a responsibility to prepare for themselves and to ensure that they're safe and that's to sign up for their community's warning systems. Learn more about cow alerts dot gov. If you're told to evacuate, please do so as as soon as possible. Never drive through barricades or road closures. Never drive through water that you don't understand what the depth of that water is. As we've talked to before, 12 inches of water can float an automobile. And what we've seen in the past, unfortunately is people driving into areas that are flooded and their vehicles getting stuck and maybe not getting out of that situation or having to be rescued from that situation. And as always, please help your neighbors, neighbors helping neighbors. If you have elderly neighbors, neighbors that you know could use your help in clearing some debris around the house, maybe snow around the house or that may need special attention and special support from their local governments as well. Please, please help that. And with that, I'll hand it over to Deputy Director of the Department of Water Resources, John Pash. John. Thank you, Director Ward. And thank you for that message. You know, the small acts of service from neighbors do add up, certainly. And so the mission of the Department of Water Resources is to sustainably manage the California's water resources to protect the human environment and in public safety. And our role is pretty broad when it comes to high water events like this. We have a regulatory role with dam safety. We operate the state water project. We help to manage the state's groundwater. And we also have a role in flood management, which is certainly active during this active water pattern, weather pattern. Our efforts during the current storm response include the weather and hydrologic hydrologic analysis and dissemination, a coordination among reservoir operators and flood managers and technical and direct assistance to meet local and county needs coordinated with Cal OES. And these efforts are led primarily out of the state federal flood operation center here in Sacramento in tight coordination with Cal OES, the California Nevada River Forecast Center from the National Weather Service and Sacramento Weather Forecast Office and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. I want to commend the local and county flood and emergency managers for being proactive. A lot of the measures, flood fight measures that were put in place in January remain in place and will prove effective during this active weather pattern here in March. The reservoir operators, I also want to commend their coordination to manage releases out of the reservoirs to allow capacity in the downstream channels to take on and absorb these downstream flows from the lower watershed. This work is vitally important and will continue throughout the spring as we manage what we all are aware of as the state's really significant snowpack in the high Sierra. We're excited about the executive order to be released later today regarding groundwater recharge or allowing some permitting relief. So some of this water that is in excess in our streams can make its way into storing, being stored on the ground and helping us in our prolonged drought. And with that, I'll turn it over to Director Mike Keever from Caltrans. Yeah, thank you, John. Mike Keever, Caltrans, Chief Deputy Director. And directly on the heels of historic snowfall in the Indian Empire and in other areas, we're hit with now multiple atmospheric rivers. This heavy, warm rain combined with accumulated snowfall is leading to the risk of flooding, rock and mudslides in the burn scar areas, and again, heavy snowfall in the higher elevations and over the passes, increasing the likelihood of road closures and avalanches. And so we're asking the public to please limit nonessential travel during the peak of the storm. But if you must travel, please stay aware of the situation. We encourage you to go to the Caltrans website or use your smartphone and go to the app and check quick map before you leave and understand the situation during your travels. When you're out there, we're asking that you please slow down, allow plenty of time to reach your destination safely. Visibility may be limited. The roads be slick, snowfall and slush and again accumulated water as the higher rain elevations melts some of the accumulated snow. During the storm, you'll see many Caltrans crews out there working on the roadside and the highways. Please move over to allow the crews, the CHP emergency responders to do their work and to keep you safe and the roads open. We will be doing everything we can to keep the highways open. But public safety will be our number one priority. If there is a closure, as Director Ward mentioned, please do not go around the barrier. It is there for your safety and we will pick it up as soon as it's safe to do so. We already have prepositioned equipment around the state at critical locations, preparing for multiple hazards. So flooding, slides, snow. We have more than 4000 Caltrans crew members working 12 hour shifts around the clock to quickly respond to emergencies and take preemptive steps. We've worked with the construction contracting industry and they're ready to step in the moment we asked them to help us respond to this event. Our crews are out clearing drains and culverts, removing downed trees. Weather service mentioned the high winds and the saturated soils. When we're monitoring bridges as the river levels rise, working with the information with the Department of Water Resources and others to monitor flooding on the roadways. Some regions have received between 15 and 45 feet of snow. And our crews are out there conducting preemptive blasts for to better manage unpredictable avalanches in some of our critical mountain areas. Many of our field staff have been working almost continuously during these winter storms since late December. So far, Caltrans has plowed 3.5 million miles of roadway since the beginning of the snow season. We've removed 45 million cubic yards of snow this last month alone. That's enough snow to fill more than a hundred rose bowls. We're out there working to keep things moving, to keep you safe, and we ask that you remain vigilant during these storms and don't travel if you don't have to. Thank you. I now turn it over to Chief Joe Tyler, CAL FIRE. Good morning. My name is Joe Tyler. I'm the Director and Fire Chief at CAL FIRE. CAL FIRE is there to support the California Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System and to support the people of California. CAL FIRE is currently supporting 26 different incidents with 39 mission taskings in 16 counties in the incorporated city of South Lake Tahoe. We support with up to 47 hand crews in cooperation with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the California Conservation Corps, and the California Military Department. We have multiple fire engines, heavy equipment such as bulldozers, helicopters that are feeding livestock on the North Coast, mobile kitchen units to support our emergency responders, and specially trained incident management personnel supporting emergency operation centers in the state. Our command centers across the state are seeing an increase in call volume for calls of service to 9-1-1. We make sure that we have resources that continue to be available across the state of California and all the counties including air rescue helicopters in cooperation with our other partners as well. As said earlier, please be aware of erosion and mudslides from burn scars over these last few years. And lastly, I ask that you please heed the evacuation warnings of your city and county officials, your local county and state law enforcement of their warnings to evacuate for the safety of yourselves and the safety of our first responders. With that, I'd like to turn it over to Chief Charlie Samson with California Highway Patrol. Thank you, sir. Good morning everybody. The CHP is currently monitoring all the incidents in traffic safety and public safety within our eight field divisions throughout the state. The most important thing that I can express today from the California Patrol is exactly what Director Ward and everybody up here mentioned today is heed those warnings. It's so important especially on our roadways. Our roadways are getting flooded and they're getting flooded by a large amount of water. We're seeing a lot of incidents where individual drivers believe that they can drive through these flooded roadways and they get stuck and create secondary problems for a lot of our first responders. Our first responders and many of the emergency management personnel standing up here today are doing an incredible job throughout this storm system and those previous storm systems. But please, from the California Highway Patrol, please slow down, make sure you're wearing your seat belt, your child's are restrained correctly. Make sure you have a go bag in your vehicle so that you're prepared in case you do get stranded. Have an extra blanket in there. Have some food and water and make sure that you take, if you can, an extra battery for your cell phone so that when you are in trouble on the roadway you can call 911 and those emergency responders can get to you in a timely manner. So thank you very much and please be safe out there. And for that I'd like to turn it over to Colonel David Kaufman. Thank you Chief Samson. I'm David Kaufman with the California National Guard. Your California National Guard is supporting this response effort with a total of 36 high water vehicles at this point. We've activated the soldiers and the teams to operate those vehicles. Moreover we have aviation assets that are available to help respond to this effort. With that I turn it over to Ms. Kim Johnson is the Director of the Department of Social Services. Thank you. Thank you. We have mobilized much of the California Health and Human Services Agency to continue to respond to the storms. And as you mentioned you heard from Director Ward we have several shelters currently open. In addition to that the Department of Social Services has prepositioned assets in eight counties to be able to quickly stand up additional shelters with our local county partners in the American Red Cross as needed. The team at the Department of Public Health is proactively engaging with healthcare partners in areas that are both likely to be impacted to ensure they can both maintain operations and have sufficient capacity. The California Department of Aging is working with local meals on wheels and other local service providers to distribute meals to those in need. And we continue across California Health and Human Services Agency to support vulnerable populations, those who are homeless or unsheltered, older adults and those with medical vulnerabilities, people with disabilities both visible and invisible, people residing in our congregate settings across the state. We've continued to engage with statewide partners to ensure we are collectively preparing and sharing resources together and addressing any unmet needs. As you've heard today there are things that each of us can do to be prepared including preparing for ourselves. We encourage you to visit CalHHS's website chhs.ca.gov to download a template so you can personally create your emergency plan. This is especially important for those who have access or functional needs. Again, as you've heard, please check on your neighbors. Connect with the older person in your life and others who might need additional assistance. We are simply stronger together. If you're concerned about the well-being of a loved one residing in one of the long-term settings across the state, we encourage you to call the statewide long-term care ombuds crisis line which is available 24-7 at 1-800-231-4024. And again, this is a lot for all of us to continue to absorb. We can be easily overwhelmed. It is okay to ask for help. We all need help sometimes. So we encourage you to reach out to CalHOPE where you'll have peer counselor to listen with compassion and support. That phone number is 1-833-317-HOPE or 4673. You can also visit CalHOPE.org. Additionally, isolation can be difficult for our loved ones in our neighbors. So we have established a friendship line for older adults. The free crisis intervention hotline and a warm line for non-emergency emotional support calls, it is available by dialing 1-88-670-1360. And with that, I'd like to turn it over to the FEMA 9 Administrator, Bob Finney. Well, thank you, Director Johnson. I'm glad to be back here at Cal OES and working with such a distinguished team and what a great partnership we have with not only Cal OES but all the state and federal agencies. Going back to earlier this year as we responded to the winter flooding as we continue to work on the recovery from those individuals and now as we face those storms and floods, that partnership continues. We've moved a team up here to OES yesterday underneath the governor's leadership, do some requested a emergency declaration from the president. The president this morning granted that declaration for 34 counties. That allows FEMA to direct other federal agencies to provide life-saving and emergency assistance as needed to respond to not only the current events happening right now but the other atmospheric rivers as they come in the days to week in front of us. We are coordinated here together to ensure that we're able to provide that assistance seamlessly and quickly. We started working together a couple days ago and are also using not only our authorities but other federal agencies authorities and an example of that is the Corps of Engineers providing 500,000 sandbags in based on a request from the state. We'll continue to work together as we go through this and look at other forms of assistance that may may be needed and and I would also just echo the other speakers in front of me to listen to local emergency managers and heed their warnings during this event. With that I'm going to turn it back to Director Ward for questions. Thank you. Thanks Bob. Questions. Director Ward, how would you respond to some especially in the Inland Empire who say that a lot of this action is happening later than I guess some would have liked that this request for the presidential emergency declaration happened you know should have happened sooner just your response to that. Well let's talk about how this all kind of unfolds. So we had the storms from before so we we dealt with those pulled back our resources for for counties that no longer needed our our help then we started to see the snow unfold more rain and storms coming there was a lot that was pre-positioned there was a lot that was moved out to counties including San Bernardino pushed quite honestly without them requesting our help we pushed resources to them but we were able to do that under the mutual aid system that California enjoys quite frankly and without needing any additional help from the federal government and as Bob Fenton mentioned once we started taking things out of our warehouses once we started needing sandbags then basically we started to ask for direct federal assistance of government did last night and so that we can tap into a broader range of federal agency support people equipment technical assistance stuff like sandbags generators those kinds of things and there's a debate I know out in the local governments many times when we don't jump right to a major disaster declaration but given all of what's going on all of the counties who are right now really doing life-saving life-sustaining critical essential response we don't have the time to have them divert those efforts to accumulate the kind of damage estimates that we are going to need to get a major disaster declaration from the federal government FEMA's policies for California one our costs have to exceed more than 70 million dollars do we think we'll get there we think we will but right now we're concentrating on those essential critical life-saving life-sustaining issues and we'll deal with the major disaster declaration which we anticipate to request when when we can get to it after we do our critical response first major disaster declaration and I know we haven't gotten that point yet with this system but is there an estimate on that damage and the concerns of compounding that with this system is your question do we know what the costs are we do not know the total costs okay yes absolutely for bob i know the president and i might be barking up the wrong tree with this question i know the president is supposed to actually come to california next week and i i didn't know if there was any discussion or concern that the system might throw off that time that i don't have any information on the schedule sorry any other questions thank you all appreciate your time