California is facing one of the most catastrophic storms in the state’s history, with unprecedented rainfall levels causing dangerous flooding, hundreds of landslides, and power outages.
And it’s not over yet: more rain was expected for this Tuesday (6). However, the threat of flooding remains high because the ground is extremely saturated, authorities warned.
At least three people have died as a result of falling trees when strong winds reached hurricane force.
On Tuesday, more than 150,000 families remained without power in the northern and central counties, a decrease from half a million homes that were without electricity on Monday.
The storm is being described as an event that occurs once every 1,000 years. In parts of the state, including the Westwood neighborhood in Los Angeles, nearly 30 centimeters of rain was recorded in 24 hours, according to US Stormwatch.
Rescue teams saved four people from an avalanche at a ski resort in Nevada on Monday, as this week’s storm buried the area under up to 60 centimeters of snow. According to the fire department, 307 landslides were reported in Los Angeles alone.
December to March are the rainiest months of the year in Southern California, but the scale of this week’s deluge was highly unusual. Record rainfall was recorded in Southern California on Sunday and Monday. The most astonishing amount fell in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
Downtown Los Angeles received 7.03 inches of rain, or 49% of its annual average precipitation. New daily precipitation records were set on both days, with 4.10 inches and 2.93 inches falling, respectively.
Downtown Los Angeles has recorded 10.77 inches of rain since January 1 – 75% of the city’s annual precipitation in just five weeks.
Source: CNN