California storms: Flooding, mudslides kill 3 people
February 6, 2024
Three people were killed as a powerful storm lashed California with a months' worth of rain in a single day, authorities said on Monday.
A "strong Pacific storm system" brought unrelenting heavy rain, wind and flooding to the western US state.
Part of Los Angeles County saw ten inches (25 centimeters) of rain in 24 hours.
On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom had declared a state of emergency for eight counties in Southern California, including Los Angeles and San Diego.
"This is a serious storm, with dangerous and potentially life-threatening impacts," Newsom said.
The US National Weather Service (NWS) described the event as "the largest storm of the season," expected to unleash "life-threatening flash, urban, and river flooding as well as debris flows and mudslides."
"An ongoing atmospheric river event will continue to produce multiple rounds of heavy rainfall to parts of southern California including the Los Angeles Basin through Tuesday," NWS said.
On Sunday, downtown Los Angeles broke a 97-year-old rainfall record, measuring 4.1 inches (just over 10 centimeters) of rain in 24 hours, the Los Angeles Times newspaper reported.
What has the impact been so far?
In the Hollywood Hills area, home to multimillion-dollar homes, mudslides caused extensive damage to houses and vehicles.
Roads have been reported flooded from the San Francisco Bay Area all the way down the coast to Los Angeles and points further south.
The Los Angeles Fire Department had 1,000 firefighters dealing with 130 reports of flooding, 49 debris flows, structure fires and stranded motorists.
Meteorologists say the storm is moving slowly, allowing more time to dump rain, with stormy conditions expected into Tuesday across the region.
Wind gusts have topped 60 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour) in some areas.
The downtown Los Angeles area was also on track to get about half its annual rainfall in this one storm, according to the NWS.
About 710,000 people across the state were without power Monday evening.
There were also a number of flights cancelled and delayed out of Los Angeles Airport, according to Flightaware.com.
Risk of deadly mudslides
On Monday, because of the threat of mudslides and flash floods, evacuation orders and warnings were in effect for mountain and canyon areas of Monterey, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
Authorities there warned of an "extremely dangerous situation."
"We are seeing a lot of rescues of cars on roads, due to mud and debris flow, in the Hollywood Hills and up into the Santa Monica Mountains," an NWS meteorologist was quoted as telling The Los Angeles Times.
The report added that "mud was already flowing across the Hollywood Hills, damaging homes and forcing residents to flee."
Heavy snow is also falling in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The Palisades Tahoe ski resort, located to the northeast of San Francisco, said it was forecasting its heaviest snowfall of the season, with up to 2 feet (around 60 cm) expected in total.
Motorists have been warned to avoid passes and mountain roads during the storm.
'Atmospheric river'
California's southern and central coasts are bracing for an inch of rain an hour and totals of 3-6 inches, NWS said.
The storm is brought on by the "Pineapple Express," or an atmospheric river (a wet and relatively narrow cloud band) funneling huge amounts of moisture from tropical latitudes near Hawaii across the Pacific to the West Coast of the United States.
It is the second such atmospheric river storm to hit California in recent days.
One positive of the heavy precipitation is the replenishing of reservoirs and snowpack in the mountains, which in recent years have sunk to record lows during periods of drought.
wmr, ss/msh (AP, AFP, Reuters)