Southern California hit by devastating debris flows caused by heavy rains

Too much rain too fast in California
On Thursday, as the downpour intensified, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood and severe thunderstorm warning for parts of eastern Los Angeles County. The rain caused a rockslide and pushed mud onto a road in Malibu Canyon, and a large debris flow left about 8 inches (20 centimeters) of mud on a road in the Hollywood Hills.

The weather service said Southern California reported 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 centimeters) of rain in coastal areas and valleys and 3 to 6 inches (7.6 to 15.2 centimeters) on coastal slopes on Thursday.

According to the website PowerOutage.us, more than 30,000 people in California were without power.

Evacuation orders and warnings were issued in areas where hillsides were scarred by the Palisades Fire, the most destructive in Los Angeles history. In addition to burning the vegetation that holds the land in place, the fires also added loose debris to the landscape, including ash, soil and rocks.

Before the storm, officials handed out sandbags, deployed rescue swimmers and told residents to prepare their backpacks for the trip. Sandbags and temporary concrete barriers were deployed throughout Altadena, where the Eaton Fire destroyed thousands of homes.

Despite the recent storms, much of Southern California remains in extreme or severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Daniel Swain, a climatologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that although the region desperately needs rain, this storm could bring too much of it, too fast.

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