A strong atmospheric river thrashed coastal California Sunday and Monday, turning roads into rivers and sending landslides through neighborhoods.
As of Monday afternoon, Los Angeles has seen six months’ worth of rain in one day. Malibu has 7 inches and counting, triggering mudslides across the county. Mud and boulders were seen blocking highways as crews worked to clear the roadways.
Mountains were hit even harder.
CATASTROPHIC FLOODING SWAMPS LOS ANGELES AREA AS DEADLY ATMOSPHERIC RIVER SLAMS CALIFORNIA
Ten people from five different homes had an early wake-up call in Beverly Crest, California. The inches of rain set off a suburban landslide that took out a home. Thankfully, the home was empty and up for sale, but neighbors fled and self-evacuated.
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FOX Weather’s Robert Ray visited the 90210 Beverly Hills neighborhood, which also suffered a landslide. He watched as streets became covered in inches of mud.
A FOX 11 Los Angeles reporter said that he watched refrigerators, books, clothes and chunks of homes floating down the road in a neighborhood in the Laurel Canyon area on the backside of the Hollywood Hills. Families evacuated six homes.
Rain flowed quickly down the hills and mountains into the valley. One man parked his car on a Studio City street in the rain for his band’s rehearsal. After practice, he had to shed clothes and perform a “swift water rescue” on his car. The road looked more like a river with rapids as the water came up to the bottom of the car.
Beach town, Santa Monica, turned into a log flume as water overwhelmed the storm drains.
One truck driver didn’t seem put out too much by the street flooding in Santa Barbara, though. The driver took it slow into the turn to see how deep the water was, then sped away.
FOX Weather Storm Chaser Brandon Copic braved the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles. A normally empty or trickling wash turned raging as it collected all the water funneled by the mountains.
“An absolutely insane amount of water coming down just behind me,” Copic said.
Hurricane-force winds literally tore trees from the ground up and down the state. The highest gust FOX Weather saw was 162 mph in the Sierra Nevada. Winds roared through cities at tropical storm force.
This car was no match for the giant eucalyptus tree with its shallow roots in Santa Cruz. The tree stood no chance with already saturated soil.
SEE SOME OF THE MOST CATASTROPHIC ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS AND FLOODING IN CALIFORNIA HISTORY
Fire crews were busy evacuating homes as well. The Santa Rosa Fire Department said that call after call came in on Sunday.
Even before the bulk of the rain and wind arrived, a tree took out two apartments in Goleta, near Santa Barbara, on Sunday.