A powerful storm system continued to batter central and southern California Monday night and is forecast to last through Tuesday.
In Santa Barbara County, evacuations were ordered for the city of Montecito and surrounding areas due to flooding. Montecito received nearly an inch of rain over the span of just an hour early Monday and more than 9 inches over a 24-hour period.
A Flash Flood Warning was issued for Ventura County which is also bearing the brunt of this latest storm.
Coastal areas and valleys including Oxnard and Camarillo had received over an inch of rain by early Monday afternoon with two to six inches of rainfall at higher elevations, causing street flooding in low-lying areas.
Rain, heavy at times, also spread across Los Angeles on Monday, prompting officials to issue flash flood warnings for many areas of the county.
The ground, already soaked from last week’s rains, led to some major road closures and rescues.
“…Yes, that is a semi buried in the mud east of Fillmore,” the CHP tweeted in reference to a mudslide that prompted the closure of a portion of Highway 126. Caltrans crews were working to rescue motorists stranded in the mud and debris.
In Chatsworth, a mother and daughter were rescued and taken to the hospital after their vehicle, along with another car, fell into a sinkhole.
Before the storm moves out of the region Tuesday, NWS expects two to four inches of total rainfall along the coast and inland valleys and 4 to 8 inches in the foothills and mountains.
At 4 p.m., Los Angeles County Public Works officials issued a “phase 2 mud flow alert” for the Fish Fire area in Duarte. The alert will be in effect until 6 p.m. Tuesday.
High surf is also a concern through Tuesday.
“Large, breaking waves will affect the coast, highest on west-facing beaches,” the weather service said.
The last week’s storm hit Northern California hard, causing widespread damage.
President Joe Biden declared an emergency in the state due to the storms, ordering federal assistance to help local response efforts.
Gov. Gavin Newsom governor said 12 people have died because of violent weather in Northern California during the past 10 days, and he warned that this week’s storms could be even more dangerous, the Associated Press reported.
Dry weather is forecast for Wednesday through Friday, the National Weather Service reports, though another storm is expected in the region over the coming weekend.