LOS ANGELES (AP) — A swift debris flow swept a Los Angeles Fire Department vehicle off the Pacific Coast Highway and into the ocean in Malibu on Thursday as heavy rain fell across Southern California, creating deluges of water and mud on roads at the bottom of hillsides left barren by the recent wildfires.
One member of the fire department was in the vehicle and was able to exit with minor injuries, department spokesman Erik Scott said on X.
In Pacific Palisades, one intersection of the highway was submerged in at least three feet of sludge, with some drivers trying to force their way through and police officers pushing one vehicle through the muck. Bulldozers worked to clear the roads not far from where just weeks ago they moved abandoned cars after people fleeing the wildfires got stuck in traffic and fled on foot.
In north Altadena, a road near the Eaton Fire burn scar was also submerged by three feet of mud, vegetation and trees as a large stream of water overcame concrete blocks and caused a flash flood. The area was mostly deserted.
To the north, snow and ice contributed to major pileups on highways in Oregon and Washington, injuring at least 10 people, as a winter storm descended on the Pacific Northwest.
The West Coast storms are just the latest in a week of bad weather across the U.S. that cut power to tens of thousands.
Pacific Northwest ice storm
First responders searched every vehicle in the pileup near Multnomah Falls, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Portland, Oregon, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said on social media. The office initially said more than 100 cars were involved, but the state transportation department later said the number was 20 to 30 vehicles.
High winds, snow and ice made it difficult to “assess how many vehicles were involved,” department spokesperson Ryan McCrary said. Oregon State Police said troopers responded to eight separate crashes and four people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries.
The pileup happened during whiteout conditions in the westbound lanes of Interstate 84, authorities said. An SUV caught fire, but its occupants escaped. The sheriff’s office said there were reports of injuries and people being trapped in their vehicles, but Oregon State Police spokesperson Kyle Kennedy said via email that there were no reported deaths.
Multnomah County officials extended a state of emergency through at least Friday and said eight shelters would be open. Officials said 489 people went to the shelters Wednesday night.
Wind chills could dip to 10 degrees (minus 12 Celsius) in Portland, the National Weather Service said.
Northwestern Oregon, including Portland, could see up to 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of snow with winds as high as 45 mph (72 kph), according to the weather service.
In southern Washington, six people were taken to hospitals with injuries in another pileup of 22 vehicles on Interstate 5 near the Cowlitz River, state patrol spokesperson Will Finn said. There were 95 crashes Thursday in five counties in the state’s southwest.
Too much rain too quickly in California?
As the downpour intensified, the National Weather Service issued flash flood and severe thunderstorm warnings for a swath of eastern Los Angeles County. The rain caused a rockslide and pushed mud onto the road in Malibu Canyon, and a large debris flow left about 8 inches (about 20 centimeters) of mud across a road in the Hollywood Hills.
Southern California could get as much as 6 inches (about 15 centimeters) of rain in the mountains and 3 inches (nearly 8 centimeters) in coastal areas and valleys before the system moves out Friday, said Brent Bower, a weather service hydrologist. Powerful gusts threatened to bring down trees, cause power outages and delay flights.
Evacuation orders and warnings were issued in areas where hillsides were scarred by the Palisades Fire, the most destructive in LA history. Scorched areas are at risk of mudslides because vegetation that helps keep soil anchored has been burned away. The fires also added loose debris to the landscape, including ash, soil and rocks.
Officials distributed sandbags, prepositioned rescue swimmers and told residents to have go-bags ready. Sandbags and temporary concrete barriers were in place across Altadena, where the Eaton Fire destroyed thousands of homes.
“If you can, stay off the roads today, especially this afternoon and evening,” the weather service’s regional office said via the social platform X.
Malibu schools closed, as did the Knott’s Berry Farm amusement park, to the southast in Orange County.
Despite recent storms, much of Southern California remains in extreme or severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that while the area is desperate for rain, this storm might bring too much too quickly.
In Altadena, Mehran Daoudian prepared by laying tarp over a hole in his home’s roof where fire burned through it last month. Daoudian said he was grateful that city workers arranged sandbags and concrete barriers in his neighborhood over the past few weeks. “I did not leave the cars on the street because with the mudslide, (they) might go down,” he said.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, there were blackouts, small landslides and inundated roadways. To the north in wine country, concerns were high along the flood-prone Russian River. Authorities urged people to evacuate Felton Grove, a small community along the central coast, as the San Lorenzo River threatened to top its banks.
In neighboring Nevada, the weather service said it recorded a measurable amount of rain in Las Vegas, ending a streak of 214 days without precipitation.
And in northern Utah, rain and snow created dangerous conditions on mountain roads leading to ski resorts. The state Department of Transportation issued a road safety alert warning of a mix of heavy snow and rain through Friday.
The East is hit with heavy snow and freezing rain
School was canceled or delayed in dozens of districts in New England, where snow and ice made driving dangerous. Maine State Police said they were investigating a crash involving a tractor trailer on the Maine Turnpike that killed two people.
Thursday’s storms followed two days of heavy snow and freezing rain in a swath of the U.S. Eastern from Kentucky to Washington that caused hundreds of traffic accidents and knocked out power to tens of thousands.
As of the evening, 130,000 customers in Virginia and about 6,600 in North Carolina were still without electricity, according to PowerOutage.us.
Mississippi tornadoes
The National Weather Service confirmed two brief EF-0 tornadoes in the state on Wednesday, including one that shredded the steel roof of an industrial building and damaged several homes in Columbia. No deaths or major injuries were reported, Mayor Justin McKenzie told WDAM-TV.
Whittle reported from Scarborough, Maine. Associated Press journalists from across the U.S. contributed.
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