March 2, 2014 -- Updated 0033 GMT (0833 HKT)
California has been in its worst drought in 100 years, so it would seem
that rain would be good news. But in much of Southern California, it has
been anything but that. FULL STORY
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After forest fires and drought, now rains torment Southern California
March 1, 2014 -- Updated 2159 GMT (0559 HKT)
Mudslides wreak havoc on Southern Calif.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Rains are the first since the weather system behind the drought collapsed
- Though desperately needed, the rain has not been great news
- Deluge has come down at more than an inch an hour at times
- Rain and cold will move, hitting the East Coast Monday
Mandatory evacuation orders for Glendora, Azusa, and Monrovia remained in effect, CNN affiliate KCAL reported. So far, no deaths have been reported.
"We've got people still
evacuated only because we expect those thunderstorms, those
high-intensity, short duration, type of rain storms," Glendora Police
Chief Timothy Staab told KCAL. "The hillsides are already soaked right
now, and it may not take much to cause those mudslides to just come down
out of the hills."
The hills can't hold water because so much vegetation was destroyed in wildfires and drought.
"These areas have the
highest risk of being impacted by flooding/debris flows from rainfall
due to the loss of vegetation from the foothills," the city of Glendora
said in a statement to KABC, also a CNN affiliate.
In Monrovia, people who
choose not to leave will be asked to sign a form acknowledging they know
the risk and assume liability for staying in their homes, KABC
reported.
The bad weather extended into Burbank, where rain and winds felled a 50-foot tree into an elderly woman's home. She escaped out the back door and wasn't injured.
In Glendora, stories of close calls were easily found on Friday.
Mario Vazquez grabbed his dog and got out of the way, as a stream of water and mud came gushing on to his streets.
Since California has
been in the middle of its worst drought in 100 years, it would seem that
the sight of rain would be good news.
But in Glendora and other towns in Los Angeles County, it wasn't.
The rain has been much
needed, but Friday's deluge -- coming down at more than an inch an hour
at times -- landed on bone-dry hills scorched by recent wildfires in and
around Los Angeles.
With little vegetation
left to stop them, walls of water have gushed into valleys below. They
have spewed mud and debris into quiet residential streets, turning them
into thick, brown creeks.
California storms
More could hit before
Saturday is up, the National Weather Service says. It has placed Los
Angeles and Ventura counties under a flash flood watch.
By the time it's over up
to 6 inches will have landed on the foothills of Los Angeles County and
as much as 10 inches on the ridge line.
Weather weirdness
The West Coast rain is
expected to end by Sunday, but will move eastward over the weekend. It
will bring cold and snow to the central Plains to Ohio Valley late
Saturday and Sunday and to the East Coast by Monday.
Cities that will fall in
the path of the heaviest snow include Louisville and Lexington,
Kentucky; Pittsburgh and Philadelphia; and the Washington, D.C. area.
Severe thunderstorms
will be possible across central and eastern Texas and much of Louisiana
on Sunday. Damaging thunderstorm winds will be the primary threat and a
few tornadoes will be possible.
Several cities will
experience yo-yo temperatures. For example, the high in Atlanta will be
71 degrees on Sunday and drop to 54 on Monday. In New York, it will be
40 on Sunday and 26 on Monday; in Washington, 54 and 34, with a chance
of 8-10 inches of snow.
In Colorado, one person
was killed and 20 were injured after a series of wrecks Saturday that
involved an estimated 60 cars, Sonny Jackson, public information officer
for the Denver Police Department, told CNN. Jackson said there were
three different accident scenes within a short stretch of I-25 North,
the first of which involved 45 cars.
The storms brought the
first rains since a powerful, persistent weather system collapsed that
was keeping California parched. The same system was also at the root of a
lot of strange weather around the globe -- all the way to Russia.
A massive, sturdy ridge
of high-pressure air had hovered over California, blustering rain clouds
away. At the same time, it pushed the jet-stream way up into Canada and
distorted it, said weather environmentalist Bill Lapenta.
The stream then whipped
south, pulling icy cold down into the Deep South, where it triggered
snow storms. Then it dragged them up to Northeast, before crossing the
Atlantic and bringing floods to Britain.
It is also brought the unseasonably warm weather at the Olympic Games in Sochi, Lapenta said.
The heavy California rains will not do much to alleviate the drought, according to the CNN Weather Center.
A lot of the water is
flowing right back out to sea, and the drought's effects have been
enormous. Water reservoirs are running at minimum levels.
For the first time in
its history, the California Water Project - a system of canals and
reservoirs that provide water to two thirds of the people in the state's
Central Valley -- set its allocation for all of them to zero.
Fire, then water
Floating in Glendora's silt were chunks of burned wood.
Just weeks ago, flames
were consuming the hills looming above them. Now, 1,000 homes in the
valley have been ordered to evacuate, for fear of flash floods.
Besides his dog, Vazquez left almost everything he owns behind to face the sludge.
"I got my laptop," he said. "It's going to be fine. It's all replaceable."
It was probably quick thinking on his part. The rising waters caught many off guard.
"It wasn't like this 20
minutes ago," said resident Ryan Friend. He seemed aghast, as he watched
a stream of thick brown pour down a street.
CNN's Greg Morrison contributed to this report
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