Two people are dead after the strongest storm to hit southern California in years moved into the Los Angeles area on Friday, bringing torrential rain, flash floods and powerful winds.
As much as 250 millimetres of rain (10 inches) was expected to fall in parts of the region, said the U.S. National Weather Service, raising the risk of mudslides — along with winds gusting to 112 km/h.
a massive Sinkhole just Swallowed 2 cars? in Studio City …not a movie! pic.twitter.com/pdnqFdf6p2
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@nisconi
More than 300 flights were delayed or cancelled at Los Angeles International Airport.
A man was found dead inside a vehicle that was submerged in floodwaters in Victorville, San Bernardino County fire officials said.
Strong winds caused this tree to crash into a carport and vehicles in the Santa Barbara suburb of Goleta. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)
Another man was electrocuted in the Sherman Oaks area of Los Angeles when power lines, taken out by a falling tree, hit his car.
Later in the same neighbourhood, a sinkhole swallowed two cars, the second on live TV as viewers watched it teeter on the edge before plunging in.
A man struggles against gusty wind and heavy rain as he walks along a pier Friday in Huntington Beach, Calif. (Jae C. Hong/Associated Press)
Firefighters rescued one person from the first car, and the driver got out of the second before it fell. No one was injured.
At the Cajon Pass, the shoulder of Interstate 15 crumbled and sent a parked firetruck spilling over the side, but no one was hurt.
Winds were gusting to 112 km/h in parts of southern California. Here, two women make their way through heavy rain and gusty wind as they walk along a pier Friday in Huntington Beach. (Jae C. Hong/Associated Press)
Hundreds of trees and dozens of power lines had toppled in the Los Angeles area and about 150,000 customers were without electricity across the region.
The storm, with what may be California’s heaviest rainfall in six years, comes as months of wet weather have dramatically eased the state’s years-long drought.
However, the heavy rain and melting snowpack threatened to undermine a spillway at one of the largest dams in the country, which prompted the evacuation of 188,000 residents earlier this week.
