Powerful California storms kill 9, trigger 475 mudslides across Los Angeles

A storm system of unusual intensity swept across Southern California over two days, leaving nine people dead and reshaping the landscape with mud, debris, and water. The rain began Sunday and continued through Monday, dumping amounts that would normally fall across half a year in a single region. Downtown Los Angeles recorded 7.03 inches in forty-eight hours—nearly half its average annual rainfall. The city's Bel Air neighborhood came close to a full foot. These were not merely heavy rains; they were record-breaking downpours that set new daily maximums on consecutive days, with 4.10 inches falling Sunday and 2.93 inches Monday.

The human toll was immediate and varied. Nine deaths were attributed to the weather across California, with at least four people struck by falling trees as gusty winds knocked branches loose across neighborhoods. In Studio City, a resident named Scott Toro watched a mudslide scatter his neighbors' cars and render their street impassable, blocked by boulders and branches. Two homes on his block sustained damage. "We've been here 21 years and we've never seen anything like this," he told reporters, though he added that his neighbors appeared physically unharmed, if shaken.

The scale of the physical damage was staggering in its breadth. Los Angeles authorities recorded 475 mudslides across the city and county. The fire department responded to 390 fallen trees, conducted multiple water rescues, and handled a spike in traffic collisions. Neighborhood streets became rushing channels of mud and debris that swallowed vehicles and left residents stranded. Mayor Karen Bass declared an emergency Monday as the storm continued. Officials were investigating 35 damaged structures; five received red tags, meaning residents could not re-enter; seven received yellow tags, allowing brief visits to retrieve belongings. The damage, while not as catastrophic as officials had feared, amounted to what one county supervisor described as "a thousand cuts"—sinkholes, erosion, downed trees scattered across the region.

Power outages compounded the disruption. Around 70,000 customers across California lost electricity, concentrated in northern and coastal areas where violent winds had toppled trees and power lines. The storm also brought heavy snow to the Sierra Nevada and Southern California's mountain ranges, creating near-impossible travel conditions at high elevations through Tuesday night. The snow was expected to spread inland later in the week, reaching higher elevations across Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.

By Tuesday, the worst of the downpours had passed, but the threat remained active. An additional inch of rain was forecast for valley areas, with one to three inches possible in the foothills. The rain expanded eastward into western Arizona, southern Nevada, and southwestern Utah, raising flash flood risks across a broader region. Los Angeles County officials urged anyone venturing outside to exercise extreme caution, warning that water-soaked hillsides still held the potential to slide. Two evacuation orders remained in place—one at the Owen Fire burn scar in Topanga Canyon and another at the Agua Fire burn scar near Acton, where the combination of recent fire damage and saturated soil created particular vulnerability.

The rainfall totals underscored how far outside normal conditions the storm had pushed. Downtown Los Angeles had experienced its third-wettest two-day period on record. The city had accumulated 10.77 inches since January 1—seventy-five percent of its typical yearly rainfall in just five weeks. Long Beach and Santa Barbara both shattered their daily rainfall records on Sunday and Monday. This was not a typical winter storm for Southern California; it was a departure from the region's climate patterns significant enough to be measured against decades of records.