Powerful rainstorm deluges fire-ravaged regions of state
Thousands flee mudslide risk from major precipitation.
LOS ANGELES — A strong Pacific storm dropped record-breaking rain late Wednesday on a swath of California evacuated by thousands of people over threats of debris flows and mudslides from wildfire burn areas.
The storm came ashore on the central coast and spread south into the Los Angeles region and north through San Francisco Bay, fed by a long plume of subtropical moisture called an atmospheric river.
It also moved eastward, bringing the threat of flooding to the San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Nevada, where winter storm warnings for new snow were in effect on the second day of spring.
Record rainfall was recorded in five spots including Santa Barbara, Palmdale and Oxnard, where nearly 1.8 inches of rain had fallen by Wednesday evening.
That’s compared to the record of 1.3 inches set in 1937.
Nearly 5 inches of rain had fallen in northern San Luis Obispo County, while 2.7 inches fell in Santa Clarita, just north of Los Angeles and 2.6 inches were recorded at one spot in Santa Barbara County.
Authorities kept a close watch on Santa Barbara County, hoping there would not be a repeat of the massive January debris flows from a burn scar that ravaged the community of Montecito and killed 21 people.
The National Weather Service said warned of a ninehour period of moderate to heavy rain Thursday.
Mud and rockslides closed several roads in the region, including Highway 1 at Ragged Point near Big Sur, not far from where the scenic coast route is still blocked by a massive landslide triggered by a storm last year.
A large pine tree was felled in Los Angeles, landing across a residential street into a picket fence. No one was hurt.
Carolyn Potter, 59, evacuated from her home in Casitas Springs in Ventura County on Tuesday, but returned the same day when no rain materialized in her neighborhood.
“I thought, ‘This is silly. I’m going to go home and get something done,’” she said.
Potter evacuated again when she woke up to rain Wednesday morning and plans to sleep in her car in a grocery store parking lot to avoid hotel costs and the bustle of an evacuation shelter.