Los Angeles, California, 26 December (H.S.): Intense atmospheric river storms battered California over the Christmas period, unleashing up to 11 inches (27 cm) of rain in Los Angeles County alone, spawning flash floods, mudslides, and widespread power outages affecting approximately 100,000 residents by Thursday evening.

Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed states of emergency on Wednesday for Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Shasta counties—expanding prior northern declarations—to expedite state resources, National Guard deployment if needed, and federal aid for ravaged infrastructure amid saturated soils and burn scars from January wildfires exacerbating debris flows.

The U.S. Weather Prediction Center warned of numerous flash flooding events potentially swelling streams and rivers through Friday, with wind gusts exceeding 100 mph (161 km/h) near San Jose and evacuation orders in San Bernardino and the San Francisco Bay Area.

No major accidents disrupted emergency responses, though swift-water rescues saved motorists trapped in rising waters across highways and urban streets.The toll included three fatalities linked to the storms' ferocity: on Wednesday morning, 64-year-old Roberto Ruiz died instantly in San Diego's City Heights neighborhood when a 75-foot tree branch collapsed onto him at 3805 Marlborough Avenue as he stepped outside to relocate his vehicle amid gale-force winds.

Earlier, over the weekend in Redding, a 74-year-old motorist perished after driving into a flooded underpass, where police attempted a rescue but could not extract them before drowning amid 5.34 inches of prior rainfall since 16 December.

On Monday, a woman in her 70s was swept into the Pacific Ocean and killed by a massive wave at MacKerricher State Park in Mendocino County, dislodged from a coastal rock during peak storm surges.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass echoed Newsom's urgency, declaring a local emergency and cautioning holiday travellers against venturing onto slick roads littered with debris, as Altadena residents endured mudslides from burn-scarred hillsides unable to absorb the deluge. The tempests, fueled by multiple moisture plumes from the tropics during peak travel season, dumped record precipitation—such as 2.53 inches in downtown L.A. on Wednesday, surpassing the monthly norm—and blanketed the Sierra Nevada with feet of snow, closing mountain passes while submerging homes in Wrightwood and prompting mass evacuations. State agencies mobilised over 300 personnel, fire engines, helicopters, and incident teams, underscoring the system's potential to rival historic wet Christmases as flood watches endure statewide.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar