LOSANGELES (AP), Jan 10 (Reuters) – California was hit by a flood of rain early on Tuesday, the latest in a series of unrelenting storms that flooded roads and flooded roads. High waves hit the shores, turning rivers into bubbling floodplains and refugees. Thousands forced in a town with a history of deadly landslides. At least 14 people have died since the storm began last week.
The storm set off several tornado warnings early Tuesday and was expected to bring heavy snowfall to the Sierra Nevada mountains a day after bringing up to 14 inches of rain to high-altitude areas of central and southern California.
After a brief lull, another storm is expected to hit the entire state from Wednesday, exacerbating the misery and further inundation areas already threatened by floods and debris flows.
The storm threatened coastal and river towns, with more than 200,000 homes and businesses without power early Tuesday morning, according to the website poweroutage.us, which tracks power company reports. The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a flood warning for the entire San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento Valley and Monterey Bay through Tuesday. Areas devastated by recent wildfires face the potential for mud and debris to slide off exposed hillsides where the protective layer of vegetation has not yet fully recovered.
The entire coastal area of Montecito, home to Prince Harry, Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities, marks his fifth anniversary of a landslide that killed 23 of him and destroyed more than 100 homes in the coastal enclave. In commemoration, we are asked to evacuate.
County officials have ordered the evacuation of her 20 homes in the Orcutt area. Floods and sinkholes damaged up to 15 homes.
Jamie MacLeod’s property was under an evacuation order in Montecito, but with a raging stream on one side and a landslide on the other, she said there was no way to “get off the mountain.” The 60-year-old owner of the Santa Barbara Bird Sanctuary said one of her employees was coming to deliver groceries every week and she was stuck.
Ms McLeod said she feels lucky because her own home is on a hill and the electricity is still on. But she’s tired of the frequent evacuation orders since the massive wildfires that followed a deadly landslide five years ago.
Another town a few miles down the coast, La Conchita in Ventura County, was evacuated. In 2005, 10 of her people died in landslides. In Ventura County, the Ventura River reached a record high of over 8 meters on Monday. A firefighter used a helicopter to rescue more than a dozen of his people trapped on a wave-rushing island. Water levels dropped rapidly overnight to mild flood levels.
The storm also washed 3 feet (1 meter) of mud and rocks onto Route 126, stranded long lines of cars and trucks. Rescuers worked late into the night to free them. In Los Angeles, a sinkhole swallowed two cars Monday night in the Chatsworth neighborhood. The two escaped alone, and firefighters rescued him with minor injuries, officials said.
President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency on Monday to support storm response and relief efforts in more than a dozen countries.
Much of California continues to suffer from severe to extreme drought, although storms have helped fill depleted reservoirs.
![Firefighters raced to contain the frontiers of two Los Angeles wildfires that burned for the sixth straight day on Sunday, taking advantage of a brief respite in hazardous conditions before high winds were expected to fan the flames anew. At least 24 people have died in what California Governor Gavin Newsom said could be the most devastating natural disaster in U.S. history, one that has destroyed thousands of homes and forced 100,000 people to evacuate. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Flames have reduced whole neighborhoods to smoldering ruins, leveling the homes of the rich and famous and ordinary folk alike, and leaving an apocalyptic landscape. Officials said at least 12,300 structures have been damaged or destroyed. "L.A. County had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak," Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said. Aerial firefighters, some of them scooping water out of the Pacific Ocean, dropped water and retardant while land crews with hand tools and hoses held the line of the Palisades Fire as it encroached on the upscale Brentwood section and other populated areas of Los Angeles. Advertisement · Scroll to continue That fire on the western side of town has consumed 23,713 acres (96 sq km) or 37 square miles and stood at 13% contained, a figure representing the percentage of the fire's perimeter that firefighters have under control. The Eaton Fire in the foothills east of Los Angeles scorched another 14,117 acres (57 sq km) or 22 square miles - itself nearly the size of Manhattan - and firefighters increased the containment to 27%, up from 15% a day earlier. North of the city, the Hurst Fire was 89% contained, and three other fires that had ravaged other parts of the county were now 100% contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) reported, though areas within the containment lines may still be burning. SEVERE WINDS RETURN Firefighters got a temporary break from the weather this weekend as Santa Ana winds, which reached hurricane force earlier in the week, finally eased. The dry winds originating from the inland deserts had fanned flames and blew embers up to 2 miles (3 km) ahead of the front lines. But, in an area that has not received any rain of note since April, the National Weather Service forecast Santa Ana winds of up to 50 to 70 miles per hour (80 to 112 kph) would resume on Sunday night (U.S. West Coast time) and last through Wednesday. Officials warned the entire Los Angeles County population of nearly 10 million that anyone may be ordered to evacuate from the flames and toxic smoke. By Sunday, more than 100,000 people in Los Angeles County had been ordered to evacuate - down from a previous high of more than 150,000 - while another 87,000 faced evacuation warnings. "These winds combined with low relative humidities and low fuel moistures will keep the fire threat in all of Los Angeles County very high," Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone told a press conference, adding that evacuated areas may not be reopened until red flag conditions are lifted on Thursday. Even so, schools except some in mandatory evacuation zones would reopen on Monday, after closing for all 429,000 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District on Thursday and Friday, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho announced. Item 1 of 18 Firefighters work to clear a firebreak as the Palisades Fire, one of several simultaneous blazes that have ripped across Los Angeles County, burns in Mandeville Canyon, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Ringo Chiu [1/18]Firefighters work to clear a firebreak as the Palisades Fire, one of several simultaneous blazes that have ripped across Los Angeles County, burns in Mandeville Canyon, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Ringo Chiu Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab Newsom told NBC News the fires were likely to be the worst natural disaster in U.S. history "in terms of just the costs associated with it." The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner reported 24 deaths from the fires. Private forecaster AccuWeather has estimated the damage and economic loss at $135 billion to $150 billion. To help expedite the monumental rebuilding effort ahead, Newsom signed an executive order on Sunday temporarily suspending environmental regulations for destroyed homes and businesses. Active duty military personnel are ready to support the firefighting effort, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in a series of Sunday television interviews, adding the agency has urged residents to begin filing for disaster relief. Firefighters from seven states, Canada and Mexico have already converged on the Los Angeles area to help fire departments from around the state. HIGH ANXIETY Hundreds of people displaced by the fires attended mass at the St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica on Sunday, including parishioners whose churches were destroyed. Kathleen McRoskey, who attended mass regularly at Pacific Palisades' ruined Corpus Christi church for over 40 years, said she was grateful to St. Monica for opening its doors to those who lost their homes and place of worship. "It was the first offer of support that would heal us spiritually and physically and emotionally," she said. In Altadena on the edge of the Eaton Fire, Tristin Perez said he never left his home, defying police orders to evacuate as the fire raced down the hillside. Instead, Perez insisted on trying to save his property and his neighbors' homes. "Your front yard is on fire, palm trees lit up – it looked like something out of a movie," Perez told Reuters in an interview in his driveway. "I did everything I could to stop the line and save my house, help save their houses." His one-story yellow duplex survived. So did two more homes next door. Across the street, entire houses burned to the ground. "A lot of these areas still look like they were hit by a bomb. There are live electrical wires, gas lines and other hazards," said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. Zuzana Korda was evacuated from her home in the Fernwood neighborhood in Topanga, northwest of Los Angeles. Speaking outside a temporary assistance office at the West Hollywood Public Library, she said her landlord told her the family home was still standing, but she was anxious. "We've left everything behind. We have no insurance," Korda said. "We stand to lose everything."](https://londonpost.news/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/download-29-218x150.jpeg "Los Angeles races to contain wildfires before severe winds return")
