SACRAMENTO — Heavy rain continued to drench California on Tuesday as an ongoing parade of storms left much of the state in disarray, with power outages, collapsed roadways, mud and landslides, and treacherous floodwaters widespread across nearly the length of the state.
About 210,000 customers had no power across the state Tuesday as gusty showers and storms swept ashore. One midday storm brought downpours and unusual lightning, thunder and hail to San Francisco.
In Santa Barbara, a government official told the National Weather Service that more than 100 vehicles were underwater and that first responders had made some 40 rescues. In nearby Montecito, where authorities ordered all residents to evacuate Monday, a road stretching across foothill communities was “destroyed,” the Weather Service reported.
The Weather Service office in Los Angeles wrote that this was the “most impressive” storm to hit the region since January 2005.
Mud and debris flowed down the hills of areas including Studio City, surrounding some homes and forcing some residents to shelter in place. Flash flooding turned streets into streams even in densely populated Beverly Hills and downtown L.A.
In downtown Los Angeles, the rain submerged parked cars, according to photos that circulated on social media. Flights were delayed at Los Angeles International Airport, a spokeswoman said. At Los Angeles Union Station, floodwaters spilled into a pedestrian tunnel.
To repeat--and now with a visual: There is flooding in the Union Station pedestrian tunnel. To get from one end of station to the other, you can use the B/D Line subway. The turnstiles are unlocked. https://t.co/FX7rvpppGL
— LA Metro (@metrolosangeles) January 10, 2023
In Chatsworth, a community in the San Fernando Valley, firefighters rescued two people trapped inside a sinkhole that swallowed two vehicles Monday night.
Your #LAFD rescued two trapped victims from a sinkhole tonight in #chatsworth For the full story: https://t.co/BfW24qCTrU https://t.co/0a7TeD3r1k
— #LAFD Talk (@LAFDtalk) January 10, 2023
The two-phase storm system has brought multiple waves of heavy rain and hundreds of reports of flooding across California since Sunday night. It comes on the heels of several other systems that have been unrelenting for the past two weeks.
California had its driest three-year period on record from October 2019 through September 2022, and yet it remains to be seen how lasting an impact the weather whiplash might have on drought conditions there. The extreme precipitation is filling reservoirs and piling up snowpack, but because the ground is well saturated, much of the fallen rain will end up in the Pacific Ocean.
Multiple rivers across California had reached flood stage Tuesday and were forecast to soon crest.
In Santa Cruz, which has been battered by both heavy rains and storm surges from the sea, an overnight wind storm ripped out trees and scattered debris across city streets. In the hills above the University of California at Santa Cruz, downed power lines closed roads and convoys of Pacific Gas and Electric trucks, the state’s main electricity provider, combed through the area removing fallen logs and trying to restore power.
Many businesses in the city’s downtown, which runs on both sides of the San Lorenzo River, had placed sandbags and tarps in front of their doors in anticipation of the river continuing to swell. But the level of the water began to recede before it broke its banks.
Severe thunderstorms sweep across state
Tuesday began with a bang for much of California as strong to severe thunderstorms — with a pair of nocturnal tornado warnings — jolted residents awake in the middle of the night.
The National Weather Service had been tracking the storms’ progress using lightning-mapping satellites as early as Monday evening. Shortly after 11 p.m. Monday, they released a bulletin cautioning that “a strong line of thunderstorms is currently 150 miles off the coastline. This line of thunderstorms will arrive to the coastal waters after midnight.”
Those storms moved ashore in California between the Bay Area and Santa Barbara between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. local time Tuesday morning, quickly intensifying as they tracked into the milder Central Valley. San Francisco posted a 69 mph gust as the storms blew through.
The storms pushed east, reaching the state capital in the 3 a.m. hour. Sacramento saw a gust of 54 mph at 3:40 a.m. A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Sacramento; last year, the local National Weather Service serving the area only issued one such warning.
By then, lightning strikes were prolific by California standards — with combined cloud-to-ground and intracloud discharges making flash rates of 20 or more per minute. A pair of tornado warnings — one for Stockton and one for Modesto — were issued, leading up to 4 a.m. In Modesto, winds gusted to only 33 mph but the area picked up a quick 0.15 inches of rain in an hour. Winds in Stockton gusted up to 46 mph.
Lightning levels are rapidly increasing in the complex of strong/severe thunderstorms that will make landfall along the California coast tonight.
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) January 10, 2023
Incredible satellite imagery ahead of a night of wild weather. pic.twitter.com/eaPbqLyflm
Based on historical records, these were the first overnight tornado warnings ever issued by the National Weather Service in Sacramento; with records dating back to 1986, it appears the latest that any other tornado warning had been in effect was until 9:15 p.m.
Tremendous rainfall triggers flooding
The low-pressure system that triggered the thunderstorms was responsible for dragging ashore an atmospheric river on Sunday night and Monday, or a narrow filament of deep subtropical moisture with origins as far away as Hawaii. That fire hose of moisture, dubbed the “Pineapple Express,” drenched Southern and Central California and dumped 2 to 3 feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada. The National Weather Service predicted up to another 22 inches of snow could fall Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
As of Tuesday afternoon, downtown Los Angeles recorded 3.35 inches of rain, and Bel Air got 6.14 inches in 48 hours. Pasadena picked up 5.41 inches, and Beverly Hills was drenched by 5.47 inches.
In the higher terrain, the amounts were double or triple what fell in the lowlands. Nordhoff Ridge in Ventura County, for instance, saw 18.31 inches of rainfall, and San Marcos Pass in Santa Barbara County recorded 17.17 inches. “As far as we know, this is a historical record for the amount of rain in that location,” Eric Boldt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Los Angeles, said at a news conference Monday.
Serious flooding swamped Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. In Ventura County, at least 18 people were rescued while trying to escape rising floodwaters. The Ventura River overflowed its banks and spilled onto Highway 101. In Fillmore, a mud flow 3 feet deep swallowed Route 126 and trapped cars and semitrailers.
A mudslide on Casitas Vistas Road affected three vehicles, but no injuries were reported.
About 20 homes in Los Osos in San Luis Obispo County were severely damaged by floodwaters. The worst damage was around Vista and Montana roads.
In Santa Barbara, water pooled 3 to 4 feet deep on Spring Street, inundating vehicles and in some cases forcing high water rescues. Evacuation centers were opened at La Colina Junior High School, the Wake Center, the Veteran’s Memorial Building and the Minami Community Center. Both sides of Highway 101 were shut down.
Santa Barbara County closed public schools Tuesday and issued shelter-in-place orders for some areas before lifting those Tuesday evening. An evacuation order was imposed for Montecito, an affluent town in the county that is home to Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Ellen DeGeneres, also a resident, posted a video urging her neighbors to stay safe.
In the Central California town of Paso Robles, a 5-year-old boy was reported missing after the car he and his mother were in was swept into a nearby creek Monday, police said. Neighbors rescued the mother, but the boy was swept downstream toward the Salinas River, according to police. Authorities mounted a search that was halted for safety reasons before resuming Tuesday, when they named the 5-year-old as Kyle Doan. Police said in a news release that Doan is 4 feet tall and weighs 52 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black jacket with a red liner and blue jeans.
The sheriff’s office said it would continue the search after failing to find the boy Tuesday evening.
The office of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Monday afternoon that the death toll from the recent storms was already more than the number of lives lost to wildfires in the past two years combined. President Biden agreed to Newsom’s request for a declaration of a state of emergency, paving the way for more federal assistance.
Additional storms in the forecast later this week and next week spell more flood threats, though state water resources officials said many large reservoirs still have capacity for more rainwater, with statewide storage at about 78 percent of average.
Forecasters predict a break in the stormy pattern by around Jan. 20, according to the Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center.
Brianna Sacks in Los Angeles, Gerrit De Vynck in Santa Cruz and Jason Samenow and Anna Phillips in Washington contributed to this report.
