A “Pineapple Express” atmospheric river slammed into the West Coast Sunday, putting more than 40 million people’s lives at risk from excessive flooding and other natural disaster risks.
Residents in California were warned repeatedly of life-threatening flooding and rainfall, heavy mountain snow and whiteouts, as well as damaging winds and high surf on its way to the state by Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The system is expected to last through the first half of the coming week, but footage is already going viral of the meteorological onslaught.
A timelapse video shared by meteorologist Colin McCarthy showed an insane amount of snowfall in the Lake Tahoe area, with Tahoe City apparently “almost completely buried by snow.”
It is absolutely dumping snow in Lake Tahoe, with this snow stake in Tahoe City almost completely buried by snow.
By far the biggest storm of the year in the Sierra Nevada, with 2-8 feet of snow expected throughout the mountain range 🏔️ pic.twitter.com/cJyTJfdIXy
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) February 4, 2024
A mind-blowing 10 inches of rainfall hit parts of Southern California within a 12 hours period, blanketing parts of Santa Monica, Malibu and Beverly Hills, extreme meteorologist Reed Timmer shared to followers. Video of the Ballona Creek in Marina Del Rey showed waters flowing at a rapid pace, fed largely by precipitation way up in the Santa Monica mountains.
RAGING creek in Los Angeles, California with the Santa Monica Mountains getting blasted by very heavy rain. This is Ballona Creek near Marina Del Rey flowing at 18,000 cfs! #cawx #atmosphericriver pic.twitter.com/50aSsQ6K2Y
— Reed Timmer, PhD (@ReedTimmerAccu) February 5, 2024
Roadways bordering Santa Monica were also flooded, and more than 900,000 homes were without electricity across SoCal, Mario Nawfal shared. But the Grammy Awards went ahead as if nothing was wrong.
🇺🇸 Several cars were stranded in San Vicente in Brentwood, California, due to flooding. pic.twitter.com/tbjrb1fFHB https://t.co/ePSPWqQP3x
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) February 5, 2024
Strong winds also pushed water up the Embarcadero in San Francisco, and around 40 million were placed under flood and wind alerts, according to Today.
With the second major storm to hit California in days, nearly 40 million people are under flood watches and more than 30 million people are under wind alerts. The National Weather Service is calling it the “largest storm of the season.” @LizKreutzNews reports. pic.twitter.com/Kh4PRpvc0J
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 5, 2024
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino and five others, CBS News reported. “Storms can change quickly, but let me be clear: This storm is a serious weather event. This has the potential to be a historic storm, severe winds, thunderstorms, and even brief tornadoes,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass reportedly said Sunday.
In the early hours of Monday morning, NWS told residents in the Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica mountains to be prepared for overnight landslides and flash flooding. “Avoid travel if at all possible,” NWS stated.