California storm

Residents across California’s Central Coast were allowed to return home Tuesday following a torrential storm that swamped the region with eye-popping amounts of rain and choked roadways with mud and debris. As of 2 p.m., all evacuation orders and shelter-in-place advisories had been canceled in Montecito and the rest of Santa Barbara County, “The storm that we just experienced was a significant and powerful weather event, one in a series of storms that have and Rain deluged the entire county, he added in an afternoon news conference, “but the south county area was especially impacted, with unprecedented and historic rainfall levels.” Back-to-back storms across California have killed 17, including two motorists who died in a crash, and caused damage that could cost over $1 billion. L.A. County — which has received 2 to 6 inches of rain along the coast and in coastal valleys and about 8 inches in the mountains — could see an additional .5 to 1.5 inches, with more expected at higher elevations, meteorologists say. Tuesday’s storm, the latest in a series of Meteorologists also warned that Tuesday’s storm could produce brief tornadoes and hail. “We are definitely not out of the woods yet,” said Rich Thompson with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Conditions should begin clearing up Tuesday afternoon, weather experts said. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) Malibu Canyon Road In Hollywood Hills West, about a quarter-acre of hillside collapsed. No homes appeared threatened,...

The heaviest rain was expected to hit Northern California Wednesday and Thursday morning, Newsom’s office said. In Southern California, the heaviest rain was forecast for Wednesday night through Thursday. Mandatory evacuation orders were in effect for several cities in Northern California, including Richmond in the Bay Area and Watsonville in Santa Cruz County. Powerful storm hitting California • An "atmospheric river event" was bringing heavy rain to California through Thursday. • Officials warned of flooding and debris flows, especially in burn scar areas left by wildfires. • Gov. Gavin Newsom declared • Trees and wires were downed in San Francisco. The Los Angeles area was to be under a • A body was found Wednesday in Sacramento near where another body had been discovered previously inside a submerged vehicle. Thousands without power, trees down More than 197,000 households or businesses were without power as of 10 p.m., mostly along the coast from Monterey County to Oregon, according to tracking website The storm was also bringing high and potentially dangerous winds. In Marin County, north of San Francisco, wind gusts of 85 mph were recorded, the National Weather Service said. Sacramento Executive Airport saw a 46 mph gust. San Francisco Mayor London Breed said late Wednesday afternoon that the storm’s impacts were already there. “San Francisco has been upgraded to a flood warning which means floods are inevitable,” Breed said. San Francisco and other counties were un...

SAN DIEGO — The headaches and heartaches from deadly winter storms across much of California aren't likely to end soon. Millions remain under flood warnings and thousands are without power from the severe weather that has turned roads into rivers, spurred rockfalls and mudslides and forced thousands from their homes. The heavy rain across much of the state Tuesday will continue Wednesday in Northern California. And forecasters are calling for another storm-producing system at the end of the week into next week. California's weather has been unrelenting, and it has "Almost 100,000 Californians [are] living in places where it's unsafe to be in their homes right now," California Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot said at an afternoon news conference Tuesday. Fears of more flooding and mudslides persist because the ground is saturated, an unusual state amid California’s historic, three-year drought. “Soils in California are saturated from above average rainfall over the past few weeks, which means it won’t take much additional rainfall to trigger flooding,” the federal Weather Prediction Center said in a forecast statement Tuesday. Floodwater surrounds homes on Thornton Road in Merced, Calif., as storms continue to batter the state Tuesday. Noah Berger / AP The Meteorologist Jan Null High winds More climate and extreme weather news • Rain • Extreme weather • U.S. greenhouse emissions show signs of slowing — • Amid California's stormy weather, it feels like • The sea...