California storms likely to worsen
Up to 10 more inches of rain expected midweek
LOS ANGELES – A powerful storm system with drenching rain, heavy snow and high winds lashed California on Monday, but forecasters warned the worst was yet to come.
Even stronger storms were bearing down on the state and threatened to dump another 5 to 10 inches of rain during the next two days.
Virtually the entire state was affected by the bad weather.
Some locations in Southern California had received more than 12 inches of rain, said meteorologist Jamie Meier of the National Weather Service. It was the most rainfall from one storm event since 2005, he said.
“That will make for a pretty good wallop, especially considering how dry things have been for the last two years,” Meier said.
Downtown Los Angeles got 5 1/4 inches of rain since Friday morning, more than a third of the average annual precipitation.
The National Weather Service said a record .98 inches of rain fell at Los Angeles International Airport Monday, the most for the date since 1952.
About 40 residents of the San Joaquin Valley farming community of McFarland were briefly evacuated Monday morning amid fears that a nearby creek would flood.
A Kern County Fire Department statement said 2,000 residents had been ordered to leave their homes, but McFarland Police Chief David Oberhoffer said only a few dozen people showed up at an evacuation center.
Resident Cristian Abundis, who lives on a street where water ran a foot deep, returned from an evacuation center and quickly started filling sandbags.
“We just want to be prepared,” he said, dropping the bags around his doors and driveway.
Flash-flood watches and warnings were in effect Monday for some places, particularly mountain areas still scarred by wildfires.
Areas of San Bernardino County that burned recently were under close watch.
“We’re doing preparation because the height of the rain for our county is going to be Tuesday and Wednesday,” fire spokeswoman Tracey Martinez said. “There’s thousands and thousands of sandbags, and I don’t know how many tons of sand we’ve placed everywhere.”