Downpours ease in Southern California, but flood risks remain

DAMIAN NIKODEM VIA REUTERS

A vehicle moves through a flooded street during torrential rains, in San Bernardino County, Calif., on Dec. 24, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. The last gasps of Southern California’s wettest Christmas holiday in decades dumped rain on the waterlogged region today, after days of rocky mudslides, flooded roads and evacuation warnings.

Related Photo Gallery

Atmospheric river brings more rain to California

The last gasps of Southern California’s wettest Christmas holiday in decades dumped rain on the waterlogged region today, after days of rocky mudslides, flooded roads and evacuation warnings.

The heaviest showers appeared to be over, but any additional rain today carries elevated risks of flooding and mudslides because the ground was already so soaked. At least three people in California have died of causes related to the storm system.

Forecasters today expected some more rain, at most an inch, in the late afternoon and evening, before clearing up by Saturday and staying that way through next week, said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

“We are trending down and drier as we get into the weekend,” he said.

The rain caps an exhausting year of weather extremes for Southern Californians: The fires that burned Los Angeles and Altadena in January left scarred land that could not absorb much water, intensifying this week’s flooding. While the causes of any one weather event are complex, a warming planet has heightened the intensity of both fires and floods.

Paige Fillion, 63, who evacuated her home in January as the Eaton fire in Altadena raged, was once again under an evacuation warning this week. Though she loves to hike in the San Gabriel Mountains near her home in the foothill city of Sierra Madre, she is increasingly tired of the chaos, she said.

Don't miss out on what's happening!

Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!

Email Sign Up
By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser's and Google's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA.

“I think the natural disasters are ramping up,” Fillion said.

In many parts of Southern California, including at UCLA; the Hollywood Burbank Airport; and the Santa Barbara Airport, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the wettest ever recorded, according to the weather service. Rainfall on those days in some of the region’s mountainous areas exceeded 10 inches.

“We see this kind of storm maybe once in 25 years, which makes it pretty unique,” said Kristan Lund, a meteorologist with the weather service.

Elsewhere in the state, a winter storm warning was in effect over the Sierra Nevada, with several feet of snowfall expected in some parts and avalanche warnings around Mammoth Mountain and Lake Tahoe.

This morning, two ski patrollers at Mammoth Mountain were injured when they were caught in an avalanche, according to a statement from the ski resort. One is currently hospitalized with possible broken bones, and the other was more seriously injured and transferred to a larger hospital, the resort said.

The heavy rain is the result of a series of atmospheric rivers — large plumes of moisture drawn from the ocean — that have been flowing over California for the past week. Climate change also plays a role: A warmer atmosphere holds more water, making intense rainstorms and flooding more common, and heaping one threat on top of another.

Over the holiday week, flooding has disrupted travel and prompted evacuations across the state. Some residents spent Christmas Eve in shelters after the authorities ordered mandatory evacuations in parts of Orange, Ventura, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in those counties, as well as in Riverside and Shasta counties.

The hardest-hit area in California this week was Wrightwood, a ski resort town of 5,000 in the mountains of San Bernardino County. Heavy rains washed out bridges and roads Wednesday while filling homes with as much as 5 feet of mud. A power outage that began that day is expected to last into next week, residents said.

Crews assessing the wreckage determined that more than 50 homes in Wrightwood are too damaged for their owners to return to without significant repairs, according to Dan Munsey, the San Bernardino fire chief.

“This is recovery is going to take months. Years,” he said in an interview.

The three deaths occurred in scattered parts of the state. In Shasta County, in Northern California, a man died Sunday after he drove his pickup truck onto a flooded roadway, according to the police in Redding.

In Mendocino County, a woman died at the beach after a big wave pushed her from a rock and into the sea Monday, the sheriff’s office there said. And in San Diego, a man died Wednesday after a tree splintered and fell on him, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2025 The New York Times Company

See more:Weather

1 Comments
By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have agreed to the Terms of Service. An insightful discussion of ideas and viewpoints is encouraged, but comments must be civil and in good taste, with no personal attacks. If your comments are inappropriate, you may be banned from posting. Report comments if you believe they do not follow our guidelines. Having trouble with comments? Learn more here.
Please log in to comment