California flood risk grows as LA evacuations continue
California is experiencing another day of heavy rain and flash flood risks, leading Los Angeles County to extend evacuation orders while warning of hazardous road conditions during the busy holiday season.
A final system bringing bands of moderate to heavy rain will move across the state Friday morning, threatening flash floods in areas from Oxnard to Malibu along the coast, according to the National Weather Service. Southern California may also see strong winds and thunderstorms near the coast, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
Los Angeles County extended evacuation orders for areas through Friday at 1 p.m. local time, the sheriff’s office posted. More than 50,000 homes and businesses in the state were without power Friday morning, mostly in Northern California, according to PowerOutage.us.
Several days of deluge have impacted areas that were devastated by massive wildfires roughly a year ago. The charred off vegetation makes the land resistant to soaking up the water, increasing the vulnerability toward landslides, mudslides and power outages. It’s a risk that will persist whenever especially heavy rains strike Southern California until the soil recovers and vegetation grows back.
“Those soils are still hydrophobic, which means that rain just runs off like it’s hitting hard dirt or concrete,” Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center, said this week. “There are burn scars that have lasted for four or five years before you see any improvement.”
Historic rains started ravaging California earlier this week, with the storms killing at least three people. Travel has been hobbled during the Christmas holiday with road closures, flight delays and flooded freeways.
The heavy precipitation is the result of massive Pacific storms known as atmospheric rivers.
Similar news
