(Los Angeles) Authorities in Los Angeles have ordered the evacuation of hundreds of people due to the risk of dangerous flooding posed by torrential rains expected in California on Christmas Eve on Wednesday.
Published yesterday at
A huge rain corridor called the “atmospheric river”, carrying water vapor stored in the tropics, is expected to cross southern California until the weekend, bringing heavy rain, snow and wind.
“This is a very dangerous Christmas storm,” warned the weather services (NWS), warning that this phenomenon could bring up to more than 30 centimeters of rain in places.
“Between Wednesday evening and Friday, many areas will likely be affected by significant flooding, landslides and mudslides, particularly in mountainous areas and roads crossing canyons,” NWS meteorologist Ariel Cohen told reporters on Tuesday.
Faced with these risks, the Los Angeles police announced that more than 200 homes had been placed under evacuation orders and that large areas of the Californian city were under evacuation notice.
The famous upscale neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Malibu, which were ravaged by powerful fires almost a year ago, are the subject of increased vigilance, with the expected heavy rainfall raising fears of landslides.
Strong gusts are also expected, raising fears of power outages and road blockages if trees fall on the roadway.
More than 30 centimeters of snow have already fallen this week in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
In this context, weather authorities have urged people traveling for the holidays to exercise “extreme caution”.
