California flooding: Death toll climbs to nine as storm damage continues to mount
Toppled tree falls on roof of California house as state battles floods and landslides
Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet
Get our free Climate email
The death toll has increased to at least nine people from California’s severe storms, officials said.
The storm, which has unleashed biblical proportions of rain this week, was expected to continue impacting the state until Thursday or Friday.
Four people were killed in California by falling trees, the Office of Emergency Management said. Three were killed in vehicle collisions in the Bay area. Another fatality was caused by a vehicle being swept away in a flood channel. An individual died while trying to cross the US-Mexico border across the Tijuana River.
Officials warned residents not to let their guards down on Wednesday. Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass asked residents to be prepared, and warned about the risk of saturated hillsides. “We cannot drop our guard,” she said.
The storm, caused by a massive atmospheric river, has led to one of the wettest two-day periods in southern California’s record.
In the wealthy Santa Barbara county, a cliffside collapse under an apartment building led to the evacuation of dozens of people on Tuesday. More than 400 landslides have sent thick rivers of mud through the streets of Los Angeles leaving an unknown number of homes and vehicles badly damaged.
Watch: California: Dogs ride speedboat to safety after overflowing river traps them on island
California: Dogs ride speedboat to safety after overflowing river traps them on island
Louise Boyle7 February 2024 20:44
Nine dead from storm
The death toll has increased to at least nine people from California’s severe storms, officials said.
Four people were killed in California by falling trees, the Office of Emergency Management said. Three were killed in vehicle collisions in the Bay area.
Another fatality was caused by a vehicle being swept away in a flood channel. An individual died while trying to cross the US-Mexico border across the Tijuana River.
Louise Boyle7 February 2024 20:38
Pictured: Homeowners survey the damage from rivers of mud
Home owner Dion Peronneau recounts how she was awoken by the sound of cracking around 4am on Monday morning as a mudflow forced its way into her home early in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles
(Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Louise Boyle7 February 2024 20:01
Wet days are getting wetter in California, scientists warn
With each incremental uptick in global heat, the consequences are becoming severe.
“Although 15 per cent may not seem like a lot, that extra precipitation can sometimes mean the difference between no flooding at all or flood water entering into a home or overtopping a levy, due to limitations in infrastructure that was not designed to operate in a world unnaturally warmed by human-caused climate change,” the science team wrote.
A gas station attendant walks past gas pumps on a flooded street, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024, in Lakeside, California
Louise Boyle7 February 2024 19:44
Watch: Downed power lines spark saturated vegetation in California
Downed power lines in California spark vegetation fires despite recent rain
Louise Boyle7 February 2024 19:35
Multiple agencies search for missing military helicopter near San Diego
San Diego County Fire Department said that they have joined search efforts for a military helicopter reported missing in the area north of Interstate 8 & Kitchen Creek Road, located southeast of Pine Valley.
The search has been made more difficult by snowfall, the agency reported. There are five Marines on-board the helicopter. A severe storm, powered by an atmospheric river, brought major flooding to the southern part of the state. The CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter was reported “overdue” after it failed to arrive at Miramar, near San Diego, on Tuesday night from Las Vegas.
Louise Boyle7 February 2024 19:04
What are atmospheric rivers?
The National Weather Service documented staggering rainfall amounts from the storm, and hurricane-force gusts of wind, along with heavy precipitation that intensified as the system moved south.
But what are atmospheric rivers?
Louise Boyle7 February 2024 18:45
The mesmerizing atmospheric river as seen from space
The system that brought severe impacts to California was captured from space as it churned its way across the Pacific.
The atmospheric river, which drags moisture in from the ocean, was responsible for record-breaking rainfall and heavy snow across western parts of the US.
Satellite imagery, published on Wednesday, showed the system moving its way on to the Southwest, bringing heavy precipitation along with it.
Louise Boyle7 February 2024 18:29
The San Diego area was bearing the brunt of the weather on Wednesday with scattered showers.
Areas farther north will see more isolated showers through this afternoon, the National Weather Service reported.
More widespread rain and high elevation snow were expected to develop overnight into Thursday.
Louise Boyle7 February 2024 18:15
LA gets drenched
It has been the second wettest, three-day period in downtown Los Angeles since people began making records, the National Weather Service said on Wednesday morning.
The area received another inch-and-a-half of rain on Tuesday, following four inches on Monday, and nearly three inches on Sunday.
This totalled 8.51 inches, according to NWS. This is the 2nd highest consecutive, three-day total since records began in downtown LA in 1877.
February 2024 is also now the 15th wettest of any month in this part of LA since records began.
Louise Boyle7 February 2024 18:02
