Heavy rains across California have caused flooding and landslides, killing three people as of Christmas night, local officials said.
The storm, which is expected to last until Friday, has dumped as much as 11 inches (27 centimeters) of rain on parts of Los Angeles County, prompting evacuations and closing major roads.
Emergency crews had to carry out several rescues, including people trapped in their cars by the floodwaters. California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Los Angeles and other Southern California counties Wednesday.
As of Thursday evening, about 100,000 people in the state were without power.
“Numerous flash flooding is possible,” the National Weather Prediction Center said Thursday.
“In addition, many rivers may overflow, potentially impacting larger rivers.”
A 64-year-old man from San Diego, California, died after being struck by a falling tree on Wednesday morning, police told US media.
Another 74-year-old man died in flooding last weekend as police tried to rescue him from inside his vehicle in Redding, California, the town’s mayor told local news.
And on Monday, a woman in her 70s died at McKeritzer State Park in Mendocino County, California, after being “thrown onto rocks by a large wave and swept out to sea,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
An evacuation warning has been issued for some residents of San Bernardino County in southern California, and an emergency food warning was issued for residents of the San Francisco Bay Area on Thursday morning.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that at one station near San Jose, wind speeds in the Bay Area exceeded 100 miles per hour (161 kilometers per hour).
CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, reported that in Altadena, near Los Angeles, residents experienced mudslides caused by flooding in burn scar areas that have reduced water absorption capacity following wildfires that swept through the area in January this year.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also declared a state of emergency due to the storm and warned residents to be careful on the roads during the busy holiday period.
“I urge all Angelenos to stay safe and be extremely careful on the roads if you must travel,” she said in a statement Wednesday. “Please do not take this storm lightly.”
