LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Crews have responded to 307 mudslides and five buildings have been deemed uninhabitable since the latest atmospheric river-fueled storm moved into Southern California, the Los Angeles fire chief said Tuesday morning.
LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley announced the statistics at a news conference alongside Mayor Karen Bass and other city officials.
Despite the torrents of rain, widespread flooding and many landslides, there have been no deaths attributed to the storm, Bass said.
“Angelinos should know that even though the rain may ease up a bit today, this storm continues. And that means we still need Angelinos to take precautions and to stay informed during this time,” the mayor said.
Most of Southern California remained under flood watches, and the weather service warned people to remain on high alert, as swollen and fast-moving creeks and rivers increase the risks of drowning and the need for swift-water rescues.
“This has truly been a historic storm for Los Angeles,” Ariel Cohen, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles-area bureau told reporters, noting that the city just recorded its third-wettest two-day stretch since recordkeeping began in the 1870s.
The storm has dumped more than half of the city’s seasonal rainfall in just two days.
Firefighters responded to a massive debris flow in Beverly Crest where they helped stranded residents from at least seven homes that had to be evacuated, including children.
Officials expressed relief that the storm hadn’t killed anyone or caused a major catastrophe in Los Angeles so far despite its size and intensity, though three people were killed in Northern California after the storm came ashore over the weekend with strong winds that toppled trees.
Bass thanked residents for heeding calls to stay off L.A.’s roads, and she urged people to continue doing so through the end of Tuesday, when the rain was expected to stop.
“Los Angeles can handle very big challenges. And if we stick together, we will come out so far ahead,” she said.
The slow-moving storm that blew into the city over on Sunday and then parked itself could still produce fierce downpours of up ton an inch of rain in an hour, the National Weather Service said. That could be particularly precarious since the soil is already saturated after back-to-back atmospheric rivers walloped California in less than a week.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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