The most intense rain to hit Southern California in over a year unleashed flooding, debris flows and mudslides that trapped cars and covered roadways, but spared areas burned in devastating wildfires from the catastrophe that was feared.
Some evacuation orders remain in the Los Angeles area through Friday afternoon for select residences near burn scar areas, even though the atmospheric river-fueled storm has since tracked out of California. There are lingering concerns over the potential for mudslides and rockslides, which can occur long after rainfall has ended, but the most dire threat has passed with the rain.
The storm dropped more rain on Los Angeles than the city had received in the last nine months combined. Most of it came from an intense line of storms that plowed through the city in the late afternoon, triggering flash flood warnings in the city and its burn scars, including the Eaton and Palisades fire zones. The storm was so intense, the National Weather Service issued a rare severe thunderstorm warning for Los Angeles, warning of 60 mph winds.
Another violent storm produced a rare tornado that struck a mobile home park in Oxnard, California, Thursday, Ariel Cohen, a meteorologist with the NWS confirmed to CNN affiliate KABC. The tornado’s damage survey was ongoing Friday, but initial estimates showed it had winds of at least 75 mph – an EF0 – Cohen said.
Torrential rainfall caused mostly localized street flooding but some flooding and debris flows were significant. A large debris flow in the Hollywood Hills “deposited approximately 8 inches of mud across Mulholland Dr., making passage impossible,” the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
In Altadena, which was impacted by the Eaton Fire, some vehicles were mired in thick mud as crews scrambled to dig them out.
Mud cascaded down roads at the bottom of hillsides in Sierra Madre, also near the Eaton burn scar, overtaking cars and leaving residents scrambling to help one another. Exhausted neighbors worked tirelessly to clear debris, some still living out of packed bags from the last evacuation before facing another order.
“It’s a resilient community,” Francisco Martinez, a local resident, told CNN affiliate KCAL/KCBS. “The debris flow, the mud … I’ve never seen it like this.”
A debris flow swept a Los Angeles Fire Department member off a roadway in Malibu and into the ocean, LAFD spokesperson Erik Scott said on social media. The person sustained minor injuries. Video shows a vehicle partially submerged in the ocean after being pushed off an embankment.
Significant debris flows were reported near well-known Duke’s restaurant in Malibu, located off the Pacific Coast Highway. While the oceanfront restaurant escaped damage from the recent wildfire, backhoes were seen scraping mud off the streets nearby Thursday night.
A portion of the roof of a Smart & Final grocery store in Azusa collapsed Thursday, according to KCAL/KCBS. No injuries were reported.
Al Hernandez, who was at the scene, described hearing a loud “boom” before the roof buckled. “It was crazy,” he told the news outlet. “People were screaming and running, it was just madness.”
Three dogs got trapped inside a flooded home in Highland in San Bernardino County, KABC reported. It happened while their owners were out of town, so friends of the family tried to rescue them, but only managed to get out one.
“The door (was) so swollen on the bottom half that I couldn’t. I tried my best, my husband tried too, to try to open that door. We just couldn’t get it open,” Ramona Hernandez, one of the rescuers, said.
The situation became too dangerous and Hernandez was ordered to leave. There are plans to try to return Friday to retrieve the remaining two dogs.
California’s storm brings new danger to parts east
The same storm that deluged California Thursday was tracking through more of the West with snow and rain Friday. The potent storm crosses the Rockies Friday night and pushes into the Plains early Saturday.
This storm could wreak havoc over the eastern half of the US Saturday with extensive flooding rainfall possible from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast – putting some areas under a rare high risk. Dangerous severe thunderstorms are possible in the South.
“Confidence remains high in significant heavy rainfall and flash flood event (Saturday),” the Weather Prediction Center warned Friday.
Parts of northwestern Tennessee and western Kentucky are under a rare level 4 of 4 high risk of flooding rainfall, according to the center.
It’s hard to overstate just how significant these high risk flooding events are. They are issued on fewer than 4% of days per year on average, but are responsible for more than 80% of all flood-related damage and 40% of all flood-related deaths, research from the WPC shows.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency Friday ahead of the storm.
“We want everyone to be careful,” Beshear said. “The amount of rain coming down will make it hard to drive, and flash flooding, especially across our roads, can create dangerous conditions.”
Severe thunderstorms will roar to life south of where the heaviest rain falls. These storms could pack a serious punch and a level 3 of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms is in place for portions of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott activated the state’s emergency response resources Friday as the storm was expected to hit the eastern part of the state while the western portion was facing critical wildfire danger.
Damaging wind gusts and tornadoes are possible in these storms, especially from late Saturday afternoon through the overnight hours.
CNN Meteorologist Monica Garrett and CNN’s Joe Sutton, Taylor Romine, Nouran Salahieh, Isaac Yee, Jessica Flynn and Chimaine Pouteau contributed to this report.
