As afierce atmospheric riverdumps heavy rains across parts of Southern California, some residents have been driven from their homes on Christmas Day as flooding and debris flow continue to threaten the region.
The storm, which prompted evacuation orders and warnings in Southern California counties including Ventura and Santa Barbara, is expected to continue delivering excessive rainfall through the end of the week, along with heavy snow to the Sierra Nevada mountains, the National Weather Service said.
The rain is especially a risk across burn scars, areas that experienced recent wildfires and are more prone to flooding and landslides, officials said. That includes areas impacted by the Palisades and Eaton fires in January 2025.
"The fast-moving runoff can pick up rocks, mud, ash and debris, quickly turning into a debris flow that can race downhill with little warning, taking out homes, vehicles and roads along the way," AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said.
A state of emergency was in place across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Shasta counties, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced.
The storm system, which arrived late on Dec. 23, comes after an earlier atmospheric river brought heavy rain to parts of Central and Northern California,causing at least one deathwhen a man's car was overtaken by floodwaters in Redding.
Strong atmospheric river brings heavy rain, snow, wind to California
How much rain will Los Angeles, SoCal get?
Some areas of Southern California are expected to pick up over a month's worth of rain in just a couple days, AccuWeather reported. In downtown Los Angeles, 4 to 8 inches could fall, more than the historical average rainfall for the whole month of December of about 2.48 inches, the outlet said.
"Such rainfall amounts falling over a relatively short amount of time can lead to major, life-threatening flooding, especially in the northern portion of the LA basin," AccuWeather said in a news release.
As of Christmas Eve, 8 to 10 inches of rain had fallen over the San Gabriel Mountains, sending water flow into the Antelope Valley, the weather service in Los Angeles said.
So far, over 20 inches of rain have fallen over Paradise, California, AccuWeather reported. A wind gust of 108 mph was recorded at Pablo Point, in the North Bay Area.
As for snow, up to 12 feet or more is expected in the Sierra Nevadas through the end of the week, according to AccuWeather.
Flood risks force evacuations in time for holiday
The flooding closed major roads on Christmas Eve, during peak travel time for the holiday. Parts of Interstate 5 and U.S. Route 2 reported closures due to flooding and debris flows.
More than 170,000 homes and businesses were without power Christmas morning across the state of California, according toUSA TODAY's power outage tracker.
Residents living near burn scars from the Palisades and Eaton fires were urged to be ready to leave their homes at a moment's notice. Others were under evacuation orders, and law enforcement was going door to door to warn people at specific properties "at higher risk for mud and debris flow impacts due to the safety risk to people and animals as well as a higher risk for property damage," the County of Los Angeles said.
Mandatory evacuations were issued across canyon communities in Orange and San Bernardino counties. Others remained under shelter-in-place orders Christmas morning, depending on their location.
In Ventura County, heavy rain and strong winds caused damage to the Mission Basilica San Buenaventura on Christmas Eve, with chunks of plaster falling to the ground, theVentura County Star, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. A downed tree fell into homes in the Leisure Village neighborhood of Camarillo, the outlet reported. The fire department fielded hundreds of weather-related calls by the morning of Dec. 24, including downed wires and trees. A water rescue by helicopter was performed after a hiker was trapped, the VC Star reported.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Christmas storm brings rain, flood risk to LA, Southern California
