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5:58 P.M., PACIFIC TIME ZONE

The atmospheric river made landfall at 5:58 P.M. in the state of California. It traveled at one hundred and twenty kph. It was one hundred and thirty-five miles wide. It stretched from Watsonville to San Luis Obispo. The storm doors on this river were open. Rain poured down. No monsoon could compete with this. National Weather Service webcams showed what looked like walls of water slamming through the air, smashing away all in their path, masonry and steel, making of them weapons of destruction. The rain fell onto the slopes of the coastal range, then flooded back down in torrents. The rain of the forerunning winter storm had fallen for over twenty-two hours before the ARk Storm hit, bringing with it rain of an entirely different magnitude. Like a blizzard compared to snow flurries. The ground in the Salinas Valley was becoming waterlogged, could not absorb all the water, so the flooding began. In the Sierra Nevada, the snow began to fall in a blizzard so dense that all visibility was wiped out. Low-lying real estate lining the coast was deluged by waves.

The sound made by the storm was diabolical. The screeching, hurricane-force winds, the hammering rain. Both called up a chorus of car alarms and human screams. Wind and rain threatened to smash their way into homes and make off with live bodies. In many cases, they did. Roofs were blown off, sheet rain scoured homes. Pets drowned. Humans drowned. Livestock drowned. And this was just the beginning. The streets ran with water. Storm drains overflowed. The air was rich with the smell of soaked foliage and ozone. The rain and the winds, gusting up to one hundred and fifty-six kph in places, equivalent to Hurricane Force Two, ripped off roofs, uprooted trees, swept them down streets like rough-hewn boats seeking the ocean.

The roads were full of traffic. Many had not believed in the severity of the coming storm. Now they sat in their cars, blinded by rain, trapped. Those stuck near rivers would be washed away when the banks broke. And they called it an Act of God.