Pacific storm forces mudslides, evacuations in California

• Pacific storm dumps torrential rains and powerful winds in southern California.
• 180,000 homes and businesses are without electricity as high winds wreak havoc.
• About 400 people and 70 horses were stranded by mud in Santa Ynez Mountains.

In California on Tuesday, the most recent Pacific storm dumped torrential rains and devastating gusts that caused power outages, turned city streets into rivers, and forced entire towns to evacuate. Mudslides also closed off highways.

The National Weather Service (NWS) warned that severe weather was imminent for more than 33 million Californians throughout the day. “Heavy to excessive” rainfall was forecast for much of the state, particularly southern California, and wind gusts of more than 40 miles (64 km) per hour were recorded in many locations.

According to data from Poweroutage.us, as of Tuesday noon, 180,000 homes and businesses were without electricity due to the high winds’ havoc on the electrical grid.

“This storm was different from the standpoint that it was here much longer. It was more intense because of the prior storm, the ground was much more saturated, which led to a lot more flooding and a lot more rescues because of the ground saturation,” said Barry Parker, division chief of the Ventura County Fire Department.

According to experts, excessive heat and dry spells, interwoven with increasing numbers and intensities of these storms, are signs of a changing climate. Even while the rain and snow will help restock reservoirs and aquifers, the drought that has lasted for two decades won’t be ended by only two weeks of precipitation. Flash floods and mudslides are now more likely because of the terrain that has been stripped bare by previous wildfires.

Following yet another “atmospheric river” of dense moisture channelled into California from the tropical Pacific and fueled by extensive low-pressure systems churning offshore, the torrential rains and heavy snowfall in mountainous regions are occurring.

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Much of the damage has been focused in the city of Santa Barbara, about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Los Angeles, where the steep hillsides drop down the Pacific Ocean, because the soil there has previously been soaked.

The San Marcos Pass in the Santa Ynez Mountains above Santa Barbara, where more than 17 inches (43 cm) of rain have fallen, is one of several distant locations where more than a foot (30 cm) of rain has been recorded, according to the NWS.

About 400 people and 70 horses were left stranded in the Rancho Oso area of the Santa Ynez Mountains by mud and debris on the road, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department reported on Twitter while sharing a picture of a car mired in the muck. According to spokeswoman Scott Safechuck, rescue teams were in route.

The primary route linking northern and southern California, US 101, was shut down by the California Highway Patrol near the shore. A deadline for its reinstatement was not provided.

The highway patrol posted images of mudslides and rockfalls that obstructed the route and recommended, “Please stay home and do not drive today if at all possible.”

Many areas, including Goleta, where a guy paddleboarded through the streets, were flooded.

Due to increased flood and mudslide concerns, authorities ordered the evacuation of some 25,000 residents on Monday, including the whole wealthy community of Montecito near Santa Barbara. The county sheriff’s office gave the 4,000 residents of Planada, a town in Central California, the order to leave their homes on Tuesday morning.

Authorities in 17 areas of California are concerned that the ongoing torrential rains will cause deadly cascades of mud, boulders, and other debris to fall off the slopes, including the Montecito evacuation zone.

Two vehicles plunged into a sinkhole that appeared beneath a road in Chatsworth, a neighbourhood in southern Los Angeles.

A pedestrian walkway was submerged by floodwaters that entered the railway station in downtown Los Angeles.

Since December 26, four back-to-back storms have pounded California, causing at least a dozen fatalities.

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