Much of California was hit by another wave of rain Monday in the latest storm to test the state after deadly flooding that caused widespread power outages and devastating landslides two weeks ago.
The atmospheric river, a type of storm in which Pacific winds blow a narrow, intense band of moisture across the West Coast, brought heavy rain to Southern California in the morning and severe thunderstorms and gusty winds to the Bay Area in the afternoon. State maps published by the National Weather Service showed warnings predicting the possibility of flooding, hail and tornadoes.
“It's just a huge band of moisture,” said Los Angeles Weather Bureau meteorologist Rich Thompson.
Atmospheric rivers often cause California's heaviest rain, snow, and flooding. Monday's storm appears to have caused less damage than storms earlier this month. But more rain is expected over the next few days, and millions of people across California are under flood watches until Wednesday.
As the storm moved into southwestern San Mateo County, south of San Francisco, on Monday afternoon, forecasters warned of the possibility of a “landspout” (likely caused by a spout of water reaching land). Around the same time, a series of thunderstorms rolled through the northern Central Valley, with forecasters predicting the possibility of hail and flooding.
Southern California felt the brunt of the storm early Monday. Ventura and Santa Barbara counties received up to 10 inches of rain, with the heaviest amounts in the foothills, the weather service said.of Santa Barbara airport It was scheduled to close on Monday. Closed “until further notice” The airport was flooded.
Thompson said there were numerous reports of “flooding on roads, rocks and debris crossing roads, and road closures” throughout the morning.
“This rain has nowhere to go because the soil is saturated from the last storm,” he said.
On Monday morning, California Highway Patrol responded to a vehicle accident as heavy rain fell in Los Angeles. A few hardy kitesurfers braved the weather on a beach in Ventura, northwest of Los Angeles.
A flash flood warning was in effect for the Santa Monica Mountains, Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills until Monday night.
Further north, up to 2.5 inches of rain is expected to fall on the San Francisco Peninsula, including the city of San Francisco. Three to five inches of rain is expected in the Santa Cruz Mountains and three to six inches along the Big Sur coast.
Much of the Sacramento Valley was under a high wind advisory until Tuesday morning. A man camping near a stream in the El Dorado Hills east of Sacramento was rescued from flooding waters early Monday, KCRA-TV reported.
Officials in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties issued evacuation warnings for certain vulnerable communities. Santa Barbara authorities discovered a woman's body in Mission Creek on Monday morning. Santa Barbara Police Department spokesman Sgt. Ethan Ragsdale said it was too early to tell whether her death was related to the storm, but police said no foul play was suspected.
Mission Creek can turn into a raging river during heavy rains. During a storm two weeks ago, streams overflowed their banks, forcing the evacuation of some homes.
Mark Maslan and his wife, Anne Cumming, walked by a swollen stream during a light rain Monday afternoon in Santa Barbara. They have lived in town since 1990 and near the stream for about 20 years.
“It's great that the reservoirs are filling up and that's good for drought conditions, but the resilience of the infrastructure is questionable,” said Maslan, an English professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “This creek has flooded once, but it appears to be a regular threat.”
In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass urged residents to prepare over the weekend.
In the city's hillsides on Sunday, homeowners and workers prepared sandbags and laid plastic tarps on muddy hillsides scarred by previous storms.
Some residents, including Stacey Broussard, 58, took care to fortify their properties in the immediate aftermath of the storm. Broussard's home in Baldwin Hills Estates, a neighborhood overlooking South Los Angeles, was damaged when a former atmospheric river tore through the city.
The slope behind Broussard's home collapsed, part of the iron fence in his backyard fell, and mud and vegetation from his neighbor's house on the hill above was brought down the hill.
Broussard and his neighbors lined the hillside with tarpaulins to prevent further mud from sliding down.
“As you can see, we have tarps everywhere because unfortunately this is happening all over this neighborhood,” she said Sunday.
Vic Jolie Report from California, Sarah Marvosh and orlando mallorquin From New York. Patricia Mazzei Contributed to the report.
