Heavy downpour, floods batter California

Washington, Feb 6 (IANS) The heavy downpour, flooding and power outages caused by the tail end of a powerful atmospheric river storm has disrupted life for hundreds of thousands of Southern California homes and businesses.

The atmospheric disturbances deluged the state on Monday with more heavy rain, mudslides, flooding and several feet of snow in the mountains, media reports said.

The city of Hollywood, Los Angeles, bore the brunt of the storm's fury on Monday where some 1.4 million people live and were faced with a flash flood warning -- including Hollywood's famous Beverly Hills, where filmstars reside. A local state of emergency was issued for the city of Los Angeles by Mayor Karen Bass on Monday afternoon.

Across Southern California, heavy winds that battered the region on Sunday were diminishing on Monday, but the National Weather Service warned that an unstable weather pattern could generate waterspouts or small tornadoes.

"Flash floods is a much greater threat than any weak tornado that the storm may spawn," the weather service said, and dangerous flooding was likely across much of the region from the atmospheric river -- the likeness of a river in the sky that is responsible for extreme rain and snow in the West, USA TODAY reported on Monday.

Some additional rainfall totals of 5-8 inches were forecast in some areas, which would bring 48-hour totals as high as 14 inches for some locations, the weather service said.

A state of emergency was declared in eight Southern California counties by the California Governor Gavin Newsom.

"Life-threatening conditions may evolve extremely fast in some communities," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski warned.

A debris flow caused significant damage to about five homes in Beverly Hills on Monday, the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) said.

Although no one was trapped, about 10 people have been displaced, the LAFD added.

The LAFD reported that 1,000 firefighters were responding to 49 mudslides and debris flows, 130 reports of flooding, half a dozen structure fires and other rescues of motorists stranded in vehicles.

Los Angeles recorded more than four inches of rain on Sunday, breaking the record for the day by more than an inch. It was the most rain in one day in more than 20 years, and surpassed the average for the month of February.

Officials have attributed three deaths to the storm. In Yuba City, 40 miles north of Sacramento, a man was killed when a redwood tree toppled on him in high winds, police said. Two other men were killed by fallen trees on Sunday in Carmichael, a suburb of Sacramento, and in Boulder Creek in Santa Cruz County.

San Diego residents have been advised to remain vigilant. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria issued an evacuation warning for low-lying, flood-prone areas that were battered by heavy rains last week and flooded out two weeks ago. Some areas outside the city saw up to seven inches of rain in the last two days.

A flood advisory was issued for the entire county coastline and will be in effect until 8 p.m. Monday, according to the National Weather Service. A flood watch for the county will be in effect until Tuesday.