California: Record-breaking rains have swelled rivers and triggered mudslides in Southern California. floods in California caused huge damage and The storm caused complete devastation.
Officials are issuing evacuation for some hilly neighbourhoods in the south of the state.
The deadly Atmospheric River storm that has battered California for days began to subside Tuesday, but officials warned that even small amounts of additional rainfall could trigger landslides in rain-soaked Southern California.
Between Sunday and Monday, the storm dumped record-breaking amounts of rain on the Los Angeles Basin and prompted millions of residents to stay at home to avoid potential hazards.
By Monday evening, Los Angeles officials had counted more than 120 landslides and 25 damaged structures in the city, many of which were located in the hills above Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
Throughout Southern California, dozens of people had to be evacuated from floodwaters and rising seas, including a Los Angeles County man who jumped into the swollen Los Angeles River to try to save his dog. In the Baldwin Hills neighbourhood, an avalanche of mud destroyed a bedroom of a home.
But overall, the region has not suffered the worst flooding and other impacts for which it had prepared, said Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.
Instead, the damage has been like 1,000-plus cuts — sinkholes, fallen trees, areas of erosion,” he said at a news conference Monday night.
Firefighters evacuated 16 people from a Studio City neighbourhood on Monday after two homes on Lockridge Road suffered significant damage from storm-triggered debris.
On Monday morning, residents walked down the road almost in a daze and observed piles of soil and a jumble of rocks scattered across the road. Ankle-deep water was flowing down a hill, carrying with it pieces of debris.
Some residents of tree-lined streets near Lockridge Road shovelled mud that had settled in their driveways while city maintenance trucks drove back and forth trying to clear the path.
In other parts of Los Angeles, residents temporarily returned to the world on Monday, walking through intersections where water had pooled. Although officials urged people to stay off the roads, nearly all Los Angeles Unified School District campuses remained open and classes were expected to resume Tuesday.
In Northern California, residents were still recovering from damage caused by strong winds that exceeded 90 mph in some places on Sunday.
At one point, more than 850,000 businesses and homes were without power as winds downed power lines and damaged other electrical equipment, Pacific Gas & Electric, the state’s largest utility so far due to the storm, said Sunday. It is one of the top three outage days in the U.S.
The winds also became deadly. A 41-year-old man in the Sacramento suburb of Carmichael and an 82-year-old man in Yuba City, north of Sacramento, died after a tree fell in their backyard.
A 45-year-old man died after a tree fell on his home in the Santa Cruz Mountains on Sunday. The three deaths reported so far are the only deaths caused by the storm.
The atmospheric river was expected to move southward into the San Diego area on Tuesday, but the potential for occasional rain and storms will remain in Los Angeles, said Ariel Cohen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Los Angeles.
Mr. Cohen said the ground was extremely saturated after one of the worst storm systems to hit the Los Angeles area since record-keeping began. He warned Angelenos to remain vigilant Tuesday, even if the sky appears blue.
“It’s not going to take much rainfall for additional landslides, rockslides and mudslides to occur,” he said.
During a news briefing on Monday evening, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass moved to speak to President Biden. When she returned to the podium, she placed her cell phone next to the microphone and the President was still on the other end.
Mr. Biden called the city’s efforts on speakerphone “a hellish operation” and said he had just gotten off the phone with Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“We will have help on the way as soon as you guys request it,” Mr Biden said. “Then just tell me. That’s why I’m calling.”
The National Weather Service said that “shower will continue into the evening and that rainfall rates would likely produce more flooding and the flood watch will continue into the afternoon”.
Where are the floods in California
Flooding and storm surge continued to wreak havoc in Southern California, according to the National Weather Service.
