An unusually strong storm system linked to at least two deaths lashed Southern California with heavy rain on Saturday, bringing risks of flash flooding and landslides. The severe weather forced evacuations in areas of Los Angeles County recently burned by wildfires.
The region had been experiencing wet conditions since Thursday night, but the heaviest rain fell Saturday as the storm stalled over the area, drawing moisture off the Pacific Ocean. By early Saturday afternoon, rain over Los Angeles County was easing, and there were no reports of major landslides.
Flood warnings in the area expired at 2 p.m., with county officials planning to lift all evacuation warnings and orders by 6 p.m. Debris flow was no longer anticipated in burn areas. Although the main front of the storm had passed through the county, forecasters warned of a continued chance of thunderstorms through the night.
Meanwhile, the system continued to dump rain along coastal areas from Orange to San Diego counties and spread inland into southeastern California and southern Nevada. The storm pulled in a band of moisture known as an atmospheric river, bringing rain to Santa Barbara and Ventura counties overnight and spreading into Los Angeles County by Saturday morning.
By early Saturday afternoon, some mountain locations in Santa Barbara County had recorded more than 8 inches of rain since Thursday, while downtown Santa Barbara had received over 4 inches. Downtown Los Angeles recorded nearly 2 inches of rain since Friday—more than double the average monthly total of 0.78 inches for November.
The storm system moving through Southern California and a second system arriving Sunday in Northern California churned up seas and brought large waves to beaches. At Garrapata State Beach along the Big Sur coastline, a father and his 5-year-old daughter were swept out to sea on Friday by waves estimated between 15 and 20 feet high. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the father was later found dead, and the child remains missing.
Additionally, a 71-year-old man in Sutter County near Sacramento died after his vehicle was swept away by floodwaters, according to Sierra Pedley, a spokesperson with the Sutter County Sheriff’s Office.
Todd Hall, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, noted the impressive rate of rainfall on Saturday. The burn scar from the Palisades fire received half an inch of rain within 15 minutes Saturday morning—a rate sufficient to trigger a debris flow.
Burn scars are particularly susceptible to debris flows after heavy rain because wildfire flames destroy vegetation and harden the soil. Debris flows occur when floodwaters pick up sediment while moving rapidly across this hardened landscape, where the absence of vegetation enables sediment to flow freely.
Some residents of Los Angeles County, including those in areas burned during the Palisades and Eaton fires earlier this year in January, remained under evacuation warnings until Saturday evening. (Evacuation warnings mean people should be prepared to leave quickly, while evacuation orders mean it is time to leave.)
Parts of Ventura County, including areas affected by the Mountain fire late last year, were also under evacuation warnings.
By Saturday morning, the National Weather Service reported minor flooding on roadways across the region, and rocks had fallen onto some canyon roads.
The coastal mountains of Southern California, stretching from the Santa Monica Mountains to the San Bernardino Mountains, are ideally positioned to extract moisture from the atmospheric river and produce heavy rainfall.
“Those mountains act as a wall, and the water slides down the mountains and then it goes into the city,” explained Park Williams, a climate scientist at UCLA.
This chain of events—heavy rain pouring down mountains into urban areas—can cause traffic delays, scattered flash flooding, and minor mudslides and debris flows, impacting communities across the region.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/nov/16/heavy-rains-pound-southern-california-forcing-evac/
