Historic storm sends debris through LA’s Hollywood Hills and leaves 1.1 million without power

LOS ANGELES | A storm of historic proportions dumped a record amount of rain over parts of Los Angeles on Monday, sending mud and boulders down hillsides dotted with multimillion-dollar homes while people living in homeless encampments in many parts of the city scrambled for safety.

More than 1 million people statewide were without power.

The storm was the second one fueled by an atmospheric river to hit the state over the span of days.

Virtually all of Southern California was under flash flood advisories and watches, including the Los Angeles area, where between 5 and 10 inches (12.7 to 25.4 centimeters) of rain had fallen and more was expected, according to the National Weather Service.

Crews were rescuing people from swift-moving water in various parts of Southern California.

Among those rescued were two homeless people who spent the night on a small island in the Santa Ana River in San Bernardino, about 55 miles (88.51 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, authorities said.

“They were cold and exhausted from a night out stranded on this little patch of dirt that was in the middle of the river,” said Capt. Nathan Lopez of the San Bernardino County Fire Department. A dog and two cats were also saved.

Near the Hollywood Hills, gushing rivers carried mud, rocks and household objects downhill as floodwaters coursed through Studio City, damaging at least two homes, city officials said. Sixteen people were evacuated.

“It looks like a river that’s been here for years,” said Keki Mingus, whose neighbors’ homes were damaged. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The Los Angeles Fire Department said 1,000 firefighters were contending with 49 debris flows, 130 reports of flooding, half a dozen structure fires and several rescues of motorists stranded in vehicles.

Drake Livingston who lives in the Beverly Crest neighborhood, was watching a movie around midnight when a friend alerted him to flooding.

“We looked outside and there’s a foot-and-a-half of running water, and it starts seeping through the doors,” said Livingston, whose car was found submerged in several feet of mud in the morning.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass urged residents to avoid driving, warning of fallen trees and electrical lines on flooded roadways.

A record 4.1 inches (10.41 centimeters) of rain fell Sunday in downtown Los Angeles, making it the 10th wettest day on record, the National Weather Service said. That’s more rain than the area typically gets for the entire month.

Shelters were adding beds for the city’s homeless population of nearly 75,000 people.

Tony Sanz spent the night in a city park before seeking higher ground around dawn as floodwaters were rising around his tent.

“Boy did it rain last night,” he said Monday afternoon hunkered down in a tent layered with tarps on a sidewalk outside a supermarket. He spied the cloudy skies during a break in the downpours and wondered, “Is that it? I hope that’s it.”

The weather service forecast up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rainfall across Southern California’s coastal and valley areas, with 14 inches (35 centimeters) possible in the foothills and mountains over the next two days.

Los Angeles County health officials blocked access to the ocean off popular Cabrillo Beach near the Port of Los Angeles after about 1 million gallons of untreated sewage was released into the Pacific.

Commuters stepped through several inches of floodwater on Monday morning as they rushed to catch trains at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. Most public schools remained open.

Sacramento County officials said a 41-year-old man died Sunday after a tree fell on him in his backyard in Carmichael.

Over the weekend, the storm inundated streets and brought down trees and electrical lines throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Several people had to be rescued from floodwaters, including those in cars and others living in homeless encampments.

In Yuba City, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco, police said they were investigating the death of a man found under a big redwood tree in his backyard Sunday evening. A neighbor heard the tree fall, and it was possible the man was using a ladder to try and clear the redwood when he was killed, police said on Facebook.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for most of coastal Southern California, while emergency shelters were opened.

Off the coast of Long Beach, 19 people were rescued Sunday after the 40-foot sailboat they were traveling in lost its mast amid gale-force winds, said Brian Fisk of the Long Beach Fire Department.

Heavy snow was falling throughout the Sierra Nevada and motorists were urged to avoid mountain roads.

Much of the state was still drying out from the initial atmospheric river-powered storm that blew in last week. Atmospheric rivers are relatively narrow plumes of moisture that form over an ocean and can produce torrential amounts of rain as they move over land.

Both atmospheric rivers were called a “Pineapple Express” because they originated near Hawaii.

Since last winter, 46 atmospheric rivers have made landfall on the U.S. West Coast, pulling the state out of a yearslong drought, according to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes. Nine were categorized as strong, two were extreme and one was exceptional.