Published
5 years agoon
SAN FRANCISCO — Tens of thousands of people lost power after a powerful winter storm swept through Northern California, while another storm system in the southern part of the state unleashed mudslides in wildfire burn areas and trapped motorists on a major highway.
The deluge loosened hillsides where a major blaze burned last year in and around Malibu, clogging the Pacific Coast Highway with mud and debris.
A stretch of the scenic route northwest of Los Angeles was expected to remain closed in both directions until Monday while crews tow away stuck vehicles and clear lanes. No injuries were reported.
The rapper Soulja Boy was among those whose cars were mired in the muck that was up to 4 feet deep in some areas.
The 28-year-old retweeted a photo of the mudslide and posted: “My car got stuck too almost went into the ocean,” along with a prayer emoji.
An automated rain gauge in the western Santa Monica Mountains showed nearly three-quarters of an inch of rainfall in one hour, said the National Weather Service.
“These are heavy rates,” the weather service tweeted.
Avalanche warnings were posted in parts of California, Nevada, and Utah. The Sierra Avalanche Center issued a backcountry avalanche warning for the Lake Tahoe area stretching south into the Sierra along the California-Nevada line from noon Sunday until 7 a.m. Monday.
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