Ashley R. Williams, Rob Shackelford and Taylor Romine, CNN
An intense, long-lasting atmospheric river is moving across California — bringing widespread power outages and the potential for mudslides and life-threatening flooding as it dumps heavy rain and snow. Follow our live coverage here. This is what’s happening:
• Rare high flood risk persists: A firehose of rain has parked over Southern California, including Los Angeles, worsening the high risk of flooding throughout Monday. Torrential rainfall and “locally catastrophic” flooding is possible in Orange County through Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service office in San Diego.
• Power outage numbers remain high: Strong winds and rain have knocked out power for nearly 600,000 customers in California, particularly along the coast, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us. Winds reached 98 mph in Santa Clara, and the San Francisco International Airport saw winds near 60 mph.
• At least one fatality reported: A man in Yuba City, about 40 miles north of Sacramento, was killed Sunday by a large redwood tree that fell as winds of nearly 50 miles per hour hit the area. “Through the investigation, it appeared he was possibly using a ladder to try and clear the tree away from his residence when it fell on him,” the Yuba City Police Department said in a statement. The man’s identity has not been released.
• Los Angeles sees wettest day in 20 years: The torrential downpour brought an astonishing 4.10 inches of rain Sunday to downtown Los Angeles, marking the wettest day the city has seen since 5.55 inches of rain fell on December 28, 2004. February is typically the wettest month of the year in Los Angeles, with an average of 3.64 inches of rain in total downtown.
• Rare rain risk: The Weather Prediction Center issued a rare high risk of excessive rainfall - or a Level 4 of 4 - for more than 14 million people across Southern California on Monday. This includes downtown Los Angeles, Anaheim and Long Beach. In Central and Southern California, widespread rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches are expected – more than a month’s worth of rain for most areas in several days.
• Life-threatening landslides and flash flooding expected: An “extremely dangerous situation” is unfolding Monday morning in the Hollywood Hills area – where multiple homes have been evacuated – and around the Santa Monica Mountains, the weather service said. “Numerous damaging landslides, flooded roadways, submerged vehicles, and flooded creeks and streams are ongoing,” in an area that includes Malibu, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Brentwood and Burbank, the service said.
• Officials enforce evacuation orders: Some residents in Santa Barbara, San José, Los Angeles and Ventura County were under evacuation orders issued over the weekend as officials warned of potential “life-threatening” floods and landslides. Officials went door-to-door on Sunday giving evacuation warningsin Sun Valley, California, according to CNN affiliate KABC. Authorities evacuated residents near Mission Creek in Santa Barbara as water flooded the streets on Sunday.
• Storm hinders travel in the mountains: Significant snowfall totals are expected in eastern California and along Nevada’s border, with heavy and wet snow spreading across the Sierra Nevada through Monday, with accumulation rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour, according to the weather service. Dangerous wind gusts are expected to produce whiteout conditions, making travel above 5,000-6,000 feet “near impossible,” the weather service said.
Atmospheric river continues slamming California
This atmospheric river – a long, narrow moisture band that carries saturated air thousands of miles then discharges it like a fire hose – impacting California this week follows another recent storm that drenched most of the state, including Los Angeles, with record rainfall.
e braced for flooded roadways and swollen rivers, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday declared a state of emergency for Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
Southern California continued to prep for the prolonged impacts of the storm, which stalled as it moved onshore, bringing a much longer duration of rain compared to the last storm. Californians can expect to see the worst of the storm’s impacts and the heightened flood risk through Tuesday, according to the weather service.
Further south, weather service reports showed the storm system “has the potential to drop a significant and unusual amount of rainfall on San Diego,” Mayor Todd Gloria said during a news conference Sunday.
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