world. i m laila harrak. thousands of people ordered to evacuate their homes in california as the storm-battered state endures another round of heavy rain and flooding. donald trump facing new legal woes. the former u.s. president now weighing whether to testify before a grand jury about his alleged role in a hush money scheme. plus, a major step for the middle east as iran and saudi arabia strike a deal to restore diplomatic ties. the surprise agreement helped along by beijing. we ll break down what it all means. announcer: from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with laila harrak. we start this hour in california, where residents are getting battered by more storms, the result of yet another atmospheric river. at least two people are dead and nearly 10,000 people are under evacuation orders. more than 40,000 homes and businesses currently without power according to poweroutage.us. the central coast has been the hardest hit with creeks being turned into raging rivers
the coast of calabria. for more, let s go to cnn contributor barbie nadeau who joins me live from rome. barbie, what more can you tell us? reporter: we re hearing more on these operations going on right now. there are around 1,800 migrants and refugees caught up in these rescue operations. the italian coast guard, as you mentioned, had to call in more backup from the navy to try to rescue some of these people, bringing these boats in to safety. this is a highly unusual for boats to be off the coast of calabria. why is there such an uptick in arrivals? reporter: yeah, you know, that is the big question right now. there have been about, as of thursday, 17,600 and some arrivals this year so far. that s almost four times more than last year or the year before at this time. usually these boats don t come