Rain still to fall in San Diego area tomorrow
The rain that has hit Southern California and San Diego will not be over when drivers go to work tomorrow, forecasters said.
“Tomorrow on Tuesday, especially during the commute, it’s still going to be raining. And then the storm is not over with Tuesday afternoon,” National Weather Service Meteorologist Alex Tardy said in a video update this afternoon.
Thunderstorms could be possible, and off-and-on rain will fall in the area through Thursday, Tardy said.
San Onofre Beach in northern San Diego County, closer to Los Angeles, got around 4 inches of rain over two days, the weather service said. Oceanside got a little more than 2 inches. Rainfall totals in San Diego through tomorrow night could be 2 inches, according to the weather service.
More than 250,000 customers without power in California
While the rain has eased in some parts of California, more than 250,000 customers in the state remained without electricity tonight, according to tracking website poweroutage.us.
Many of those were in Northern California and near the San Francisco Bay Area as of 8 p.m. Earlier today, around 350,000 customers had been reported without power. Customers are the number of homes and businesses, and not the same as the number of people affected.
Pacific Gas & Electric called the storm, in the terms of number of outages, among the most damaging single-day weather events on record. High winds knocked down trees or threw other objects into power lines, the company said. It said it had around 3,000 people working on restoration efforts.
Firefighters rescue woman in San Bernardino
Firefighters rescued a woman from a homeless encampment that became surrounded by floodwater in the Santa Ana River during a rainstorm in San Bernardino today.
Parts of Los Angeles got more than 11 inches of rain
A little more than 11 inches of rain had fallen in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles as of this afternoon, the National Weather Service said.
Sepulveda Canyon also had gotten more than 11 inches of rain as of 4:30 p.m. local time, as had part of Topanga, the NWS said.
Downtown Los Angeles got more than 7 inches of rain, the weather service said in a statement, and Beverly Hills got almost 8 inches.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, winds lashed the region over the weekend. The top wind report there was at Pablo Point, at 102 mph. Point Reyes, north of San Francisco, recorded 89 mph, the weather service for the region said.
Santa Barbara Airport reopens after flooding
Santa Barbara Airport reopened earlier today, after “significant flooding” occurred at the airfield. The airport resumed normal operations at 1 p.m. local time, it said.
A flood advisory remained in effect until 12:45 a.m. overnight, the National Weather Service said. Moderate and locally heavy rain could return there this evening, the agency said.
A flood watch was in place until 4 p.m. tomorrow.
Risk of additional landslides in Los Angeles remains ‘very high’
Even if the rain appears to slacken following 6 to 11 inches that have fallen in the Los Angeles area, it will take very little to cause additional mudslides and other debris flows, a National Weather Service meteorologist warned this evening.
Ariel Cohen, the meteorologist in charge of the weather service office for Los Angeles, said that the storms were historic and that it was “one of the wettest storm systems to impact the greater Los Angeles area since the history of records of weather have been made, going back to the 1870s.”
Light to moderate rain will continue to intermittently affect the Los Angeles area over the next several hours, Cohen said at a news conference around 5:30 p.m.
“The ground is extremely saturated — supersaturated. It’s not able to hold any additional water before sliding,” Cohen said. “It’s not going to take much rain for additional landslides, mudslides, rockslides and other debris flows to occur.”
“The risk for additional landslides remains very high, and everyone needs to remain at a high state of readiness as we head through the overnight hours,” he said.
Biden via phone tells L.A., ‘We’ll get any help on the way as soon as you guys request it’
In a cellphone call during a news conference in Los Angeles tonight, President Joe Biden said that the federal government would provide whatever assistance is needed following a major storm that caused mudslides.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass held the phone to a microphone during the news conference, which had begun before the call.
“We’ll get any help on the way as soon as you guys request it,” Biden said. “So just let me know. That’s why I’m calling.”
Biden said he also had just spoken with California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Biden said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was well-positioned to provide assistance.
Bass said earlier that she also spoke with Vice President Kamala Harris, who represented California in the Senate.
‘Tough day’ for Los Angeles, mayor says
The storms that have pounded Los Angeles and caused mudslides has affected people all over the city, including around 100 unhoused people living in a tiny home community, the mayor said.
The people in that community, which flooded, were being moved to a nearby shelter, Mayor Karen Bass said.
There have been more than 120 mudslides and debris flows in the city because of the rain that has saturated hillsides, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said this evening. Around 6 to 11 inches of rain has fallen over the region, she said.
“As this storm continues, there are many water-soaked hillsides that have the potential to slide,” Crowley said.
Bass said some homeowners have been devastated by the damage caused by mudslides. “This has been a tough day for our city, a tough day for Angelenos,” she said.
She added that people should remain off the roads and that the weather situation is not over.
Return of rain extends flood advisories in Ventura, L.A. counties
The return of rain to parts of Southern California, already drenched by heavy precipitation, prompted the extensions of flood advisories for Ventura and Los Angeles counties, forecasters said.
The flood advisories for both were extended until 9 p.m. local time, the National Weather Service office for the region said on X.
4 people found safe after avalanche in Nevada, authorities say
Four people were found safe after an avalanche north of Las Vegas, authorities said today.
The avalanche was reported in Lee Canyon, about 50 miles northwest of downtown Las Vegas, Clark County officials said.
Las Vegas police said on X the avalanche triggered a search-and-rescue effort after “several” people were reported missing. Police said later that four people were reported missing.
“Everyone has been located and is safe. We are currently assisting people off the mountain,” police said.
The Lee Canyon ski resort area has recorded 11½ inches of snow in the last 24 hours, according to its website.
The storm system that has dumped snow in the area is the same one impacting California today. The area has also received nearly 3 feet of snow in the last week thanks to two atmospheric rivers.
Traffic held in Sierra Nevada after spinouts on Donner Summit
The California Highway Patrol this afternoon was temporarily holding traffic on parts of Interstate 80 after “multiple spin outs over Donner Summit,” the agency’s Truckee office said.
Traffic was being held eastbound at Cisco, the CHP said.
It was snowing in the Donner Summit area this afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. In a first storm, over a foot of new snow had fallen in that area as of Saturday morning, the agency has said. The area was under a winter watch until 10 o’clock tonight.
The summit and pass are named after the famous Donner-Reed migrant party, which became stranded in the snow by Truckee Lake in 1846. Some of them ate the dead to survive.
Los Angeles mayor warns people to stay inside, says ‘crisis is not over’
LOS ANGELES — Standing near the aftermath of a mudslide that damaged homes and destroyed vehicles, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass urged residents to stay home this afternoon.
“Even when the rains die down, there’s still possibilities of significant damage,” Bass said as she toured damage in the Studio City area. “And we want people to, one, stay inside. This crisis is not over with yet.”
A debris flow last night on Lockridge Road significantly damaged two homes, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. In all. nine homes were evacuated, and there were no injuries. Bass pointed to two cars that were destroyed.
Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said: “This is still an active storm event. You can see the running water and how much power can come behind this.”
Outages among the worst for a single-day storm, California utility says
The chief operating officer of California utility Pacific Gas & Electric said the storm that hit the state yesterday was one of the most damaging single-day storms on record in terms of outages.
Sumeet Singh said the storm that hit its service area, which covers a huge area of the state from Northern to near Southern California, yesterday was “intense.”
“In terms of outage totals, this was one of the top three most damaging single day storms on record,” he said.
As of 9 a.m. today, about 440,000 of the utility’s 5.5 million electric customers were without service, Singh said.
Wind gusts in Marin and Santa Clara counties, which are in the San Francisco Bay Area, and in Kern County, north of Los Angeles, were higher than 80 mph, he said.
“The strong winds caused trees and other objects to fly into our equipment and take out power,” Singh said.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed said this afternoon that the worst of the storm has passed but that crews were still clearing debris and assessing damage.
