Rough weather is forecast to hit the United States East and West Coasts simultaneously on Tuesday and Wednesday as California emergency workers scramble to repair a broken levee that had forced thousands of residents to evacuate.

The National Weather Service predicted heavy snowfall in New York from a nor’easter packing winds of 100 kilometers per hour, prompting Governor Kathy Hochul to declare a state of emergency on Monday night.

A nor’easter is a coastal storm with winds out of the northeast notorious for bringing heavy rain, snow, strong winds, power outages and coastal flooding, CNN reported.

Hochul urge people not to travel on Tuesday.

In the West, NWS warned of “additional heavy rain and snowmelt will result in more widespread flooding from Tuesday into Wednesday, particularly in low elevations and areas with increasing temperatures impacting snowpack,” according to Agence France-Presse.

“Creeks and streams will continue to be vulnerable to flooding from additional rain and snowmelt,” the agency said, predicting several feet of heavy snow over the Sierra Nevada range, AFP reported.

Meanwhile, the hole in the Pajaro River levee had widened to 100 meters, officials in Monterey County, south of San Francisco, said.

“Emergency temporary repair work to stabilize the breach is underway,” the county said in a statement.

“Flood waters are moving through the community and southward. Residents who have not left the area are still encouraged to do so.”

Meteorologists said that while rain had eased off, it would be back late Monday and into Tuesday, with more than five centimeters expected on ground too wet to absorb any more water.

Brooke Bingaman, lead meteorologist for the NWS in the Bay Area and Monterey Bay, said the danger of more flooding was very real.

“It is critical that you leave areas that are expected to be impacted,” she said in a video posted to Twitter.

WITH AFP