The Angels and the rich enclaves of Montecito and Malibu face life-threatening landslides and flash floods this Monday, February 5, after heavy rains flooded Southern California.
“We have an atmospheric firehose pointed directly at Southern California,” said Ryan Truchelut, president of commercial meteorology company WeatherTiger LLC. “Today is really the key day.”
Parts of Southern California face a “high risk of excessive rain,” a prediction the National Weather Service uses sparingly across the United States, according to Truchelut. An “extremely dangerous situation” is developing in those areas, according to an agency publication in X.
The heavy rains could cause between $3 billion and $5 billion in economic losses, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared a local state of emergency on Monday to help facilitate a response. “Stay safe and stay off the roads,” Bass said at a news conference. “Only leave home if absolutely necessary”.
Evacuation orders were issued for parts of Montecito, an expensive coastal enclave north of Los Angeles, home to celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey Meghan Markle and prince harry, where heavy rains continued, and a landslide killed 23 people in January 2018.
“Landslides pose a specific danger and are a possibility today,” Truchelut said. The Santa Barbara airport, which serves traffic from areas such as Montecito, is closed due to flooding at the airfield with all commercial flights canceled and private flights paused.
The rain will worsen ground conditions in the Los Angeles basin, an area that was already hit by the storm over the weekend. The weather service’s prediction center predicts an additional 5 to 8 inches.
More than four inches of rain fell Sunday in downtown Los Angeles, surpassing a Feb. 4 record set in 1927, the weather service reported. More than 10 inches have fallen in some parts of the region, the agency said.
The authorities ordered the closure of about a dozen roads due to landslides, flooding and other weather conditions, according to the Los Angeles County Public Works website. A stretch of Mulholland Drive, celebrated with song and film noir, was closed between Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Coldwater Canyon Drive.
Heavy rain trapped some drivers in their cars and caused landslides that damaged homes and forced evacuations, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Two different mudslides affected several homes and firefighters helped people get out safely, the LAFD said in a statement.
The atmosphere could become more unstable, Daniel Swain, a climatologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, warned in a video briefing. “Although the rain may become more dispersed, could become more intense throughout Los Angeles County and there may be some storm activity,” he said.
The likelihood of more flooding comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in eight counties on Sunday.
All Santa Barbara Unified School District schools were also ordered closed “due to a severe storm.” Los Angeles schools will remain open, except for at least one located in the Sun Valley area, which is under evacuation order due to recent fires.
The worst of rains and floods Sudden surges should pass Tuesday morning, Truchelut said.
The storm is especially dangerous this week because it has parked over the state, dumping rain that increases the risk of flooding and mudslides, said Brian Hurley, senior forecaster at the prediction center.
Malibu, Montecito and Hollywood Hills are vulnerable to flooding and landslides because They are built on dry, desert mountains, according to disaster modeler Watson. The fragile landscape is easily disturbed by roads and housing construction.
