Waves crash over a breakwater in Alameda, Calif., with the San Francisco skyline within the background on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024.

Noah Berger/AP

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Noah Berger/AP

Waves crash over a breakwater in Alameda, Calif., with the San Francisco skyline within the background on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024.

Noah Berger/AP

A serious rain and wind storm has begun to smash into the Southern California coast as we speak, simply days after a separate storm drenched the realm.

Meteorologists and native officers have warned residents in Los Angeles and past to organize for doubtlessly life-threatening circumstances.

“A very strong storm system is arriving into the area right now and is starting to bring one of the most dramatic weather days in recent memory,” the National Weather Service said round 10 a.m. PT Sunday.

The storm — often called an atmospheric river — might drop as a lot as eight inches of rain alongside the coast and in valley areas and greater than a foot within the foothills and mountains, the NWS predicted. Rain might fall at a charge of multiple inch per hour in some areas.

Heavy showers and thunderstorms mixed with “very dangerous” winds additionally upped the probabilities of doubtlessly harmful flash flooding and tough surf, with flood watches in impact throughout the realm.

By late Sunday morning, meteorologists had recorded wind gusts above 80 miles per hour in some areas and the NWS issued a hurricane-force wind warning for a part of the coast close to San Francisco.

“This is an all-hands-on-deck effort,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. “There are indications that the coming storm could be as strong as Tropical Storm Hillary was in August.”

The NWS said individuals ought to anticipate roads and freeways to flood and shut, houses and companies to tackle water, and bushes to fall within the highly effective winds.

Officials ordered residents in components of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties to evacuate, LAist reported. Part of San José, in Santa Clara County, was additionally underneath a compulsory evacuation order.

Several college districts have already canceled Monday lessons or warned mother and father they may, and NASCAR moved the Busch Light Clash race sooner or later earlier to Saturday night to keep away from the moist and windy forecast.

California’s Office of Emergency Services said it had prepositioned hearth engines, personnel and different assets in a number of counties to assist reply to the storm when it arrived.

San Diego County was giving individuals sandbags and sand that might be used to guard towards flooding, and state officers had been urging residents to journey provided that completely obligatory.

Atmospheric rivers are slender bands that transport water vapor from the tropics to the West Coast of the U.S. When they’re particularly windy and full of massive quantities of water vapor, atmospheric rivers can unleash excessive climate.

On Sunday, the highly effective storm converging on Southern California was anticipated to drop 4 to eight inches of rain in lower-lying areas, with eight to 14 inches of rain within the foothills and mountains. Rain started Sunday morning and was anticipated to accentuate because the day wore on.

Officials in Santa Barbara said early Sunday that heavy rainfall was on the way in which however sturdy winds had already arrived. The NWS predicted wind gusts upwards of 60-70 miles per hour, which might topple bushes and trigger energy outages.

Potentially life-threatening flooding would probably even be widespread, officers warned. Coastal flooding was doable, and flash flooding was predicted for components of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys on Sunday in addition to in upslope parts of the Sierra Nevada.

Snow might additionally start in some areas late Monday, and the rain and powerful winds introduced by the storm had been anticipated to final by means of Tuesday night time for a lot of areas.