
Floods, landslides, when the atmospheric river flows out of California
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern Californians weary of a storm-soaked winter were treated to the season’s farewell shots Wednesday 11th atmospheric riverwhich flooded roads, caused landslides and felled trees across the state.
Hollywood stars splashed down the rain-soaked red carpet on Tuesday at the premiere of Shazam! Wrath of the Gods” in Los Angeles, where rainfall totals are double the average.
The film’s stars — including Zachary Levy, Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu and Rachel Zegler — tiptoed across the saturated carpet in a futile attempt to stay dry.
“My feet are wet,” Zegler said. “I’m a little upset, not gonna lie.”
Many roads had water, mud and rocks, as well as potholes that disabled many vehicles. Flooding closed several miles of the Pacific Coast Highway through Huntington Beach, south of Los Angeles on the Orange County coast.
The National Weather Service said the 23.99 inches (61 centimeters) of rain recorded this water year in downtown Los Angeles makes it the 14th wettest in more than 140 years of records.
An overnight landslide on a road in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles County trapped two vehicles. This is reported by NBC4. Another hillside in the neighborhood also gave way, threatening the foundation of the house on top of the hill.
The remaining rain is expected to taper off in southern California by Wednesday evening as the storm moves toward parts of the Great Basin.
Weather in northern and central parts of the state dried out earlier after heavy rain on Tuesday and strong winds that blew out windows at a San Francisco high-rise and reached gusts of up to 74 mph (119 kph) at the city’s airport.
More than 187,000 utility customers statewide were without power Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.us.
Statewide, about 27,000 people remained under evacuation orders and more than 61,000 were warned to be prepared to evacuate due to the weather, according to the California Emergency Management Agency. As of Tuesday evening, 676 people were in emergency shelters.
The latest atmospheric river in California was one of two storm systems to sweep across the US this week. Parts of New England and New York were excavated from a midnight Easter Wednesday that caused tens of thousands of power outages, numerous school cancellations and whiteout conditions on the roads.
Despite the end of California’s rains, flood warnings remained in effect for the central coast of the Salinas and Pajara rivers in Monterey County and other rivers in the Central Valley as water drains from land battered by storms since late December.
Runoff from a powerful atmospheric river last week breached a dam on the Pahara River, prompting evacuations as water flooded farmland and farming communities. Nearly half of the people who were ordered to evacuate were in Monterey County.
The first phase of repairs to the 400-foot-long (120-meter) breach was completed Tuesday afternoon, and crews were working to raise the section to the full height of the levee, county officials said.
California was in a deep drought before an unexpected series of atmospheric rivers poured into the state from late December to mid-January, causing flooding while building a stunning snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.
Storms caused by arctic air followed in February blizzard conditions that buried mountain communities under so much snow that buildings began to collapse.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in three more counties, bringing the total to 43 of the state’s 58 counties.
According to the state Department of Water Resources, the water content of the Sierra snowpack is more than 200% of the average value on April 1, when it usually reaches its peak.
The weather service said California will see some light rain this weekend and another strong storm next week.