Storm hits California over Christmas; flood watch continues

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(The Center Square) – Rainfall from an atmospheric river this week slammed Southern California, resulting in freeway collisions, flooding, mudslides and a town where residents were trapped by water.

The storm started Tuesday night, was in full force all day Wednesday and varied from sprinkles to powerful, sometimes brief outbursts on Christmas. Drivers on freeways on Wednesday and, to a lesser extent on Thursday, encountered rapid rainfall and slower traffic as motorists proceeded with caution.

But there were still some crashes on Wednesday. In one instance, all lanes of northbound Interstate 5 were closed for hours after a FedEx semi-truck crashed in San Fernando in the Los Angeles area. Those driving on the southbound side noticed traffic was at a complete standstill on the north side as motorists waited for the lanes to reopen or to exit the freeway. For a while, the northbound side looked like one big, packed parking lot, soaked in relentless rain.

A weaker storm will hit the region on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. The agency said it was continuing a flood watch on Friday afternoon and warned the risk is still there because the ground’s saturated.

“Be aware: It will take less and less rain for there to be more and more impacts as this week progresses,” the weather service warned on its website.

The agency predicted between a quarter- to a half-inch of rain would fall Friday in Los Angeles. Sunshine is expected Saturday, but with continued cold temperatures and a high of 59. The forecast is similar for other parts of Southern California.

On Christmas Eve, flooding hit Wrightwood, a town of about 5,000 people in San Bernardino County. The county fire department evacuated residents who were trapped by water. Video broadcast on Los Angeles TV stations showed cars and homes buried in mud and rock and water rushing into homes in a town that received almost 10 inches of rain by Christmas morning.

No serious injuries or deaths were reported. Most residents decided to evacuate, according to media reports

On Christmas, a shelter-in-place order in Wrightwood was changed to an evacuation warning by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Elsewhere on Christmas, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared a local emergency to ensure the city received resources to continue to respond to impacts from the storm.

During the 48-hour period ending Christmas morning, between 2 to 4 inches of rain fell throughout the metropolitan Los Angeles area, according to the National Weather Service. It was heavier in nearby areas. The San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys saw 4 to 6 inches of rain; the San Gabriel Valley, 2 to 4 inches.

Up in the foothills and mountains, Crystal Lake and San Gabriel Dam experienced more than 12 inches of rain in 48 hours as of Christmas morning. Elsewhere, rain totals included 6.52 inches at Mount Wilson and 5.79 inches at Mount Baldy.

Rain continued to fall on Christmas night. The National Weather Service reported over an inch fell in cities throughout Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, sometimes as much as 2 to 8 inches in the mountains. Other parts of California saw anywhere from less than half an inch to two inches of rain, but no rain was reported in the southernmost coastal county of San Diego.

The National Weather Service office in Oxnard, which serves Los Angeles, Ventura, San Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Elsewhere, tens of thousands of people were left without power in Northern California after heavy snow and scattered showers. The Palisades Tahoe ski resort reported over 5 feet of snow over the past few days.

This week's storms throughout the state resulted in three deaths, according to NBC News. The victims were a sheriff’s deputy in Sacramento in a solo vehicle crash on Christmas Eve on his way from work, a 74-year-old man in Redding on Sunday because of flooding and a man in San Diego, in his 60s or 70s, on Wednesday from a cardiac arrest after a large tree branch fell on him.