California girded Sunday for a “potentially historic” storm that put much of the state on high alert, with officials expecting life-threatening damage and issuing evacuation orders or warnings in parts of Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Monterey counties.
The forecast rain totals for Los Angeles County worsened Sunday, with totals generally going up by about 2 inches in some areas. It’s now possible that, by the time this storm tapers off Tuesday, Pasadena could see up around 10 inches of rain; with about 7 inches in Northridge, Pomona and Santa Clarita; about 6 inches in downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach and Westlake Village; and about 5 inches in Redondo Beach.
“The heaviest main band of the rain looks to stall now over L.A. County,” meteorologist Ryan Kittell of the National Weather Service office for Los Angeles said at a briefing Sunday. “That’s a lot of water, people. I mean, that’s a lot. We’re expecting a lot of freeway flooding and road flooding, road closures. Many parked cars will be flooded … especially in low-lying areas of neighborhoods.”
The weather system was threatening flooding because it is “very slow moving,” Kittell said. “The core of the low pressure system is very deep, and it’s moving very slowly and it’s very close to us. And that’s why we have those very strong winds. And the slow nature of it is really giving us the highest rainfall totals and the flooding risk.”
For some of the populous areas of Southern California, this storm will bring winds that will actually be “much stronger” than Tropical Storm Hilary last August, especially in the lower elevations, Kittell said. Hilary brought most of its rain on the inland side of Southern California’s mountains and in the deserts; this weekend’s storm is focused on “the coastal side of the mountain — so where a lot of people live … the urban, city areas along the coast and valleys, and the south-facing foothills,” Kittell said.
Kittell suggested people avoid being on the roads in Los Angeles and Ventura counties between Sunday afternoon through Monday morning. “Even if the rain does start to let up on Monday morning, just the sheer amount of rain overnight will cause lingering flooding issues into the morning hours,” Kittell said, suggesting people work from home Monday morning if possible. “Especially, stay off the freeways.”
Peak wind gusts could be between 30 mph to 40 mph in downtown L.A., Long Beach, Pasadena and Pomona; between 40 to 50 mph in Northridge and Redondo Beach; and nearly 60 mph in Santa Clarita and Westlake Village.
About 3,000 Southern California Edison customers were without power Sunday, and 127,000 were without power in Pacific Gas & Electric’s territory, with 81,000 affected along the Central Coast and Santa Clara County; 14,000 elsewhere in the central San Francisco Bay Area; and 20,000 along the northern coast.
“This storm is predicted to be one of the largest and most significant in our county’s history, and our goal is to get through it without any fatalities or any serious injuries,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said at a briefing.
This storm could surpass the effects of a powerful storm that hit Jan. 9, 2023, said David Neels, the Montecito fire chief. That event forced the mass evacuation of Montecito, flooded Santa Barbara and left U.S. 101 covered with mud, forcing its closure. It caused more than $80 million in damage to Santa Barbara County, Brown said.
“Our slopes are saturated once again,” Neels said, adding that geologists are warning about the potential for landslides from this storm. “The likelihood of sediment mobilization is real.”
Brown said 6 to 12 inches of rain is expected for Santa Barbara County’s mountains. “But more concerning is the projected duration and…
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