Death Toll Climbs As Winter Storm Lashes Southern California

(MENAFN- Live Mint) (Bloomberg) -- A powerful winter storm is lashing Southern California, prompting California Governor Gavin Newsom to proclaim a state of emergency in Los Angeles and neighboring counties. Coastal communities are bracing for multiple months' worth of rain in just a few days, while areas charred by wildfires face the risk of mudslides.

A third person has died as a result of the storm, according to the Los Angeles Times. Meanwhile, a flood watch was extended for most of Southern California.

“There is a moderate risk of excessive rainfall over parts of Southern California,” the US Weather Prediction Center said in a forecast early Thursday.“Numerous flash flooding events are possible. In addition, many streams may flood, potentially affecting larger rivers.”

The historic storm, which will pummel the region over the Christmas holiday until Saturday, has prompted some evacuations in Los Angeles County and Orange County canyon communities and has brought with it road closures, flooded freeways and flight delays.

Part of the Angeles Crest Highway north of La Cañada Flintridge closed Wednesday morning due to hazardous conditions, according to a post from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Crescenta Valley Station on X.

About 10,700 customers in Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's service territory were out of power Wednesday morning as a result of debris from the rainfall, according to a statement from the utility. Southern California Edison also reported some outages due to storm conditions.

The state has pre-positioned emergency response resources across the state, including 55 fire engines and 10 swiftwater rescue teams, to protect communities from the dangerous winter storms, according to a statement from Newsom.

The heavy rains threaten more extreme floods in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, communities in Los Angeles County that were devastated by massive wildfires nearly a year ago. The charred off vegetation makes the land impervious to soaking up the water, increasing the risk of landslides, mudslides and power outages.

It's a risk that will persist when atmospheric rivers strike Southern California until the soil recovers and vegetation grows back.

“Those soils are still hydrophobic, which means that rain just runs off like it's hitting hard dirt or concrete,” said Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center.“There are burn scars that have lasted for four or five years before you see any improvement.”

A combination of factors is making it a once in five-to-10-year weather event, he said.

A trough of low pressure that stretches across the Pacific Ocean is pushing wet air right up against the coastal mountains in Southern California, said Kleebauer.“It's called the Pineapple Express because the moisture feed extends all the way back to Hawaii,” he said.

The wet air is hitting California at the perfect perpendicular angle for maximum rainfall.“You get this tropical moisture source forced into the mountains and then it just rains itself out,” he said.“This is impacting one of the biggest travel days of the whole year. That is definitely going to thwart plans for a lot of people.”

Further north, the San Francisco Bay Area was at risk of severe thunderstorms, the local arm of the National Weather Service said in a post on X. The storm is predicted to contain wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour or higher.

Up in the mountains, Mammoth Mountain said it expected to open its main lodge at 10 a.m. local time due to ongoing heavy snowfall and storm conditions. The resort expected as many as 24 inches (61 centimeters) of total daytime snow accumulation on Thursday, according to its website.

--With assistance from Robin Paxton, Derek Wallbank and Lisa Pham.

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