- Several dozen homes in the town of Wrightwood were damaged by mud.
- The atmospheric river drops after three days of torrential rain.
- A flood watch remains in effect for much of the Los Angeles area.
Three days of heavy downpours that caused flash flooding and mudslides across Southern California eased Friday as residents of homes in the hard-hit Wrightwood mountain resort began digging through mud and assessing damage.
The Christmas storm drenched the greater Los Angeles basin with up to 6 inches of rain on Friday, with 12 inches or more measured in lower elevation mountains east of the city, according to the National Weather Service.
The deluge, which began around Christmas Eve, was generated by the region’s latest atmospheric river storm, a vast air current of dense moisture drawn from the Pacific and carried inland.
The torrential rains were accompanied by strong gusty winds that downed trees and power lines across the region, causing power outages. Heavy snow fell in the high areas of the mountains.
Even before the storm hit, authorities were issuing evacuation warnings to neighborhoods considered vulnerable to flash flooding and debris flows, especially near hillsides previously ravaged by wildfires. Motorists were urged to avoid traveling where possible.
Although rain was easing on Friday, a flood watch remained in effect for much of Southern California.
Houses swallowed by mud
In Wrightwood, a city of about 5,000 residents that bore the brunt of the storm in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles, county safety inspectors began initial assessments of property losses.
Several dozen homes were severely damaged by rivers of mud that swept through the city on Wednesday, and officials were watching for additional debris flows that could occur, San Bernardino County Fire Department spokesman Ryan Beckers said.
“Evacuation warnings for Wrightwood remain in effect and all roads in the area are closed except to residents,” he said.
Misty Cheng, 49, an accountant who owns a vacation home in Wrightwood, said a neighbor who sent her video footage learned that the property was being swallowed by a landslide.
“My house is buried under more than five feet of mud,” Cheng said, speaking to Reuters by cell phone from his main residence in nearby Upland, where he was staying when the slide occurred.
A stream of mud had entered the house through a crushed wall of the attached garage, filling the living room. By the time she ventured back to the property to see the damage firsthand and salvage some belongings, the mud had hardened into a mound solid enough for her to stand on.
“I was able to get a truckload of personal items” out of the house, mostly from the second floor, which was left intact, he said. Without flood insurance, Cheng said he started a GoFundMe page to raise money for repairs.
Aerial video footage posted online by the fire department showed clusters of homes and vehicles in the city covered in walls of mud as crews with front-end loaders began clearing clogged roads.
Beckers said emergency crews rescued a couple dozen people who were trapped by flooding and debris flows in their vehicles or homes over the holidays, but no deaths or serious injuries were reported in Wrightwood.
The Weather Service said Southern California was expected to dry out over the weekend, while across the country, a major winter storm threatened to begin dumping record levels of snow on parts of New York state starting Friday night.
