A powerful winter storm unleashed heavy rain and strong winds across Northern California on Wednesday, triggering evacuations and power outages, and heightening fears of widespread flooding and debris flows.
Pounding rain and winds battered the San Francisco Bay Area and surrounding regions Wednesday evening, prompting scattered evacuations along rivers where flooding was expected. Officials have said the next few hours will be crucial.
Sonoma County issued an evacuation warning for residents living along the Russian River, including the communities of Guerneville, Monte Rio, Rio Nido and downstream of Healdsburg.
The county warned the river will crest at 33 feet on Thursday night, and flood again at 40 feet on Sunday night. According to the California Nevada River Forecast Center, the Sunday night Russian River floodwaters at Guerneville could exceed the peak from the winter of 2016–17, where floodwaters rose to 37.82 feet on Jan. 11, 2017.
Meteorologists expect washed-out roads, collapsed hillsides, downed trees and widespread flooding, and they urge residents to take precautions.
Caltrans crews romove fallen trees blocking U.S. Highway 101 in Humboldt County near Trinidad, Calif., Wednesday.
(Caltrans)
Rain will be the order of the day in Los Angeles on Thursday.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
A sign warning of debris flow near Forest Falls.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
The Arzate family, visiting from Phoenix, wait to cross Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Evening rush hour traffic stacks up on the Harbor Freeway in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
A gust of wind blows a pedestrian’s umbrella inside out in downtown Los Angeles.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, which is being affected by a major storm.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
Rabbi Yuval Noff walks on Hill Street in Los Angeles in Wednesday.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Caltrans crews remove multiple fallen trees blocking U.S. Highway 101 in Humboldt County near Trinidad, Calif. on Wednesday.
(Hector Amezcua / Associated Press)
Chris Rohloff of Venice walks along a jetty by Ballona Creek to check out the surf on Wednesday.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Mathew Prado, who works at the Sheraton Hotel at Universal Studio, sweeps water from the front drive. Heavy rain is falling in Los Angeles as another winter storm moves in.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Vehicles were stranded along Interstate 80 at the Nevada State line and Colfax on Saturday.
(California Highway Patrol Truckee via Associated Press)
San Francisco city workers load sandbags on Tuesday as they prepare for more rain.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
Mannequins are covered with plastic along West 8th Street in Los Angeles as a light rain falls on Tuesday.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Fresh snow coats a mountain Sunday in South Lake Tahoe.
(Stephen Lam / Associated Press)
Two people stand with a bent umbrella outside Walt Disney Concert Hall on Saturday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Caltrans crews check large boulders that fell onto Highway 50 just east of Kyburz during a storm in El Dorado National Park on Sunday. No vehicles were hit.
(Caltrans District 3 / Associated Press)
A man moves furniture while flood water enters a home in San Francisco on Monday.
(David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
A snow plow passes pedestrians in South Lake Tahoe on Saturday.
(Stephen Lam / Associated Press)
Patsy Costello sat trapped in her vehicle, surrounded by two feet of flood water, for over an hour in Pleasant Hill on Saturday.
(Jose Carlos Fajardo / Bay Area News Group via Associated Press)
A landslide blocks one lane of Highway 92 West in San Mateo County on Saturday.
(Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Clad in ponchos, security workers head to their posts near Grand Park on Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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