Stadiums flooded, streets turned to mud: Extraordinary aerial photos that show full impact of California's devastating storms
- Motorists stranded in cars after rivers burst their banks
- Mudslides widespread in mountainous areas
- State prepares for seventh straight day of torrential rain
- Cause is freak 'atmospheric river' that occurs once over few hundred years
- One-third of state's annual average rainfall pours down in a week
California is waking this morning to find the Golden State has been turned in to water world.
Residents are reeling after an astonishing week of storms and torrential rain caused flooding, mudslides, tornadoes - and, in the mountains, more than 15ft of snow.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had announced a state of emergency for the worst hit areas and rescue crews frantically tried to clear flooded roads before another 'monster' storm predicted for last brought more thunder, hail and even small tornadoes.
See video below...
Buried: A man removes personal items from his partially submerged car yesterday after heavy rains and flooding brought mud and debris into his house in Highland, California
Submerged: A truck and garage sit buried in mud in Highland, California after heavy flooding swept away soil left bare and unprotected after this year's forest fires
Mercifully, residents were spared as the
forecast storm failed to materialise - but now the massive clean-up
operation must begin.
The major concern right now is mudslides, which have already devastated mountainous areas such as Highland, California.
Much of the northern Californian hillsides that were stripped bare by wildfires earlier this year have lost the vegetation which holds soil in place.
The downpours have moved that loose soil and sent it flooding downhill towards residential areas.
'Mudslides are a significant risk for three years after a fire and are especially likely anytime the rainfall rate reaches or exceeds one inch per hour,' said Susan Cannon, of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Water hazard: River Ridge Golf Course in Mission Valley, San Diego is almost entirely submerged
Bridge over troubling water: A train crosses above the flooded Mission Center Road in Mission Valley
The car park around the the Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego is underwater
Elsewhere, much of San Diego is flooded, with aerial footage showing residents in rafts paddling to dry land.
The stadium where the Washington Huskies are scheduled to play the Holiday Bowl was flooded after a berm that holds the Murphy Canyon Creek gave way.
In some places the water around Qualcomm Stadium is one to two feet deep.
The
Huskies are scheduled to play Nebraska on December 30. The City of San
Diego plans to have emergency crews come in to shore up the creek so the
Holiday Bowl can be played as scheduled.
Brian Edwards, a meteorologist with AccuWeather, said: 'This has been an unbelievably wet week. An area of high pressure will move into the area beginning today bringing a mix of sun and clouds.'
Here comes the sun: After a week of rainy weather in Southern California, and intense rainfall causing local flooding, closed roads and mandatory evacuations, a rainbow appears over the San Fernando Valley
Storms: A woman is helped through muddy flood waters after she was evacuated from her home
Torrential: A woman hangs out of her car window as she waits to be rescued by firefighters in Sun Valley
Throughout the day, flood warnings were issued as heavy rains fell in
the area already saturated by a series of storms that began last
Thursday.
Downtown Los Angeles received 7.67 inches of rain from last Thursday through to yesterday afternoon.
Mr Edwards said the average rainfall for December in the area is 1.91 inches.
Rescued: Guests clutching their belongings are ferried clear of their hotel in San Diego after it flooded
Deluge: The heavy rain can be seen in Los Angeles. The state has received four times the monthly rainfall in less than a week
Flooded: Cars stand in several feet of water in San Diego. Major roads have been affected by mudslides and heavy snowfall at higher altitudes
In a part of the world that takes short-sleeve winter weather for granted, the week-long bout of heavy rain has caused Christmas chaos.
Officials ordered evacuation of 232 homes in the foothill suburbs of Los Angeles amid fears of mudslides, power was down in many communities and the downtown area of picturesque Laguna Beach was cut off by floodwater that stripped away sand from the shoreline.
A similar weather pattern is said to have brought 45 straight days of rain to the state in 1861. It caused flooding of Biblical proportions, recalling the tale of Noah and the ark, and the damage it caused bankrupted the state.
Dash: A shopper runs for cover as the rain continues to bucket down in Montrose, California
Call this a holiday? Guests are kept warm with blankets after they were rescued from their hotel
No go: Locals secure a van to prevent it from being swept into a river in Silverado Canyon in California
‘It's going to be a three-ring
circus,' said National Weather Service spokesman Bill Hoffer.
‘There's going to be a six-hour time frame when it's really going to be dumping on us.’
'Especially through the morning commute, it's likely to be very wet and the roads will be a mess,' said Jamie Meier, spokeswoman for the National Weather Service.
'People should really stay in tune with their local weather sources and be apprised of changing conditions.'
Swept away: A member of the Los Angeles Fire Department drives a watercraft in the LA River after two victims were reported to be swept away in the water today. The search eventually had to be called off due to the weather
Clean up: A worker begins to repair the damage after a tree fell on a house
Disruptions: People attempt to pull a truck out of the rain-swollen Santiago Creek near Modjeska Canyon in California yesterday
With rain falling up and down the state, Mammoth and other Sierra Nevada ski resorts boasted record December snowfalls of up to fifteen-and-a-half feet.
There have been two deaths since the storms began, a three-year-old boy and a 22-year-old man both killed in rain-related road accidents.
Rescuers had to pluck some stranded motorists from rain-swollen creeks. Shoppers dodged puddles while buying last-minute Christmas gifts. Disney resorts cancelled a plan to shower already soaked visitors with artificial snow.
Map: This satellite image shows the rain and snow over California
Clouded over: A radar image from the National Weather Service shows clouds covering nearly the entire state of California
Silver cloud: A double rainbow is seen during the heavy rain in Los Angeles. A 'monster' storm predicted to hit California in a few days has fortunately evaporated
In Orange County, four hikers missing overnight in a flooded canyon in the Cleveland National Forest were rescued by helicopter after their car was trapped along swollen Trabuco Creek.
Rescuers used a bulldozer to retrieve five other people who became stranded by the creek.
Downtown Los Angeles has already received more than a third of its annual average rainfall in less than a week.
Parts of the San Gabriel Mountains got more than 18 inches of rain since Friday, with coastal cities like Santa Monica and Long Beach getting more than six inches, the US National Weather Service said.
Major rains in California can have deadly consequences.
In 2005, five days of near constant rain left at least 28 dead in mudslides and drownings.
THE RAIN THAT JUST WON'T STOP: WHAT IS HAPPENING IN CALIFORNIA?
The continuous rainfall pouring onto California is the result of what scientists call an 'atmospheric river'.
The term was only coined recently, within the last generation of satellite imaging, but there's nothing new about the phenomenon.
Scientists now believe it was an atmospheric river that brought 45 straight days of rain to the state in 1861-62.
It caused flooding of Biblical proportions, recalling the tale of Noah and the ark, and the damage it caused bankrupted the state.
The plans to combat this type of severe storm have been christened 'Ark Storm'.
'The atmospheric river brings in the moisture. How much rain gets dropped out of it has a distribution, just like earthquakes,' said Lucy Jones of the U.S. Geological Survey office in Pasadena.
In the U.S. Jones is usually recognised as an earthquake expert but her team at the USGS Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project develops computer models for a variety of natural disasters.
They have just finished a scenario for a modern day 'Ark Storm' scenario akin to the 1861-62 storm.
'We actually made a model of this type of storm, just like we made a model of a Southern San Andreas Earthquake,' said Jones explained.
'We used the same techniques to try to assess what the damage would be.
'And our conclusion is that the storm would cost about four times as much as the shakeout earthquake.'
Fortunately,
such extreme storms are relatively rare, though lesser atmospheric
rivers have also caused severe damage storms, notably in 1969 and
1986.
Jones said more moderate atmospheric rivers occur on an annual basis and that one of the size currently battering California happens perhaps once a decade.
Another U.S. natural disaster
expert, Bill Patzert, is struck by the coincidence that California's
last major Ark Storm occurred so close in time to the last Southern San
Andreas earthquake - known as 'the Big One' - in 1857.
It seems both extreme natural events occur every few hundred years.
One
mudslide has already closed on street in the La Jolla area of San Diego
while further inland, in Riverside, a surge of water swept through a
homeless camp near the banks of the Santa Ana River.
Three
people suffered minor injuries and about 50 lost all their belongings
in the flood, according to Ruth Record of Come As You Are Homeless
Ministries.
Rebecca
Truver, 45, was in her tent when her dog and her cat started acting
strangely and said, 'They knew something was happening.
'Then all of a sudden the water came through up to my knees.'
For all the perils of the torrential
rains, there was a silver lining: The water is expected to help ease the
effects of years of drought.
Tomorrow is expected to be dry, with sunshine and there will be light rain on Christmas Day in parts of California.
- Genesis Rodriguez Gomez collapses during a lift attempt
- Mexico's Attorney Genral tours site of Guzman escape
- Shocking video shows driver barrel into four women
- Awkward moment Federer sidesteps Djokovic in corridor
- Shocking new footage of ISIS massacre in Tikrit
- Djokovic tries and fails to rip shirt off during Wimbledon...
- 'El Chapo' Guzman taken into Altiplano prison back in 2014
- Mexico's Security Commissioner on Guzman's prison escape
- Real estate agents produce amazing video to sell $33m home
- Serena Williams at the Wimbledon Champions Dinner
- Attorney General reacts to 'El Chapo' Guzman's jailbreak
- 'El Chapo' Guzman escorted to prison by helicopter in 2014
- 'I'm going to make you eat your words': Mexico's...
- Stunning Serena proves JK Rowling was spot on! Williams wows...
- The hole that led the world's most wanted man to freedom......
- Apple announces updates for its new operating system......
- Beware, lions crossing (and mauling)! Breathtaking moment...
- Donald Trump demands apology from his critics after escape...
- Executed at dawn: Veiled woman terrorist who killed American...
- The heroes risking their lives to free ISIS sex slaves...
- 'Yes, my hands are full! Sometimes with glasses of wine':...
- #ThisIsACoup: Greeks react with fury at new €86bn EU bailout...
- Miss Oklahoma is crowned Miss USA - but Trump skips his own...
- Shocking moment weightlifter collapses trying to lift 233lbs...