A driver goes though a road closed for flooding, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in in Valencia, Calif. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)Thousands of people were left without power in the Bay Area in the US after another storm hit North California. As per Seattle Times, nearly 71,000 families, mostly in the north, were hit by the outage. Heavy rainstorms across parts of California have caused floods and mudslides and left three people dead as of Christmas night, the BBC reported.
The storms, which are expected to continue through Friday, brought up to 11 inches (27 cm) of rain in parts of Los Angeles County. Roads were closed and some people were told to leave their homes.
Emergency teams have carried out several rescues, including people trapped in cars as water levels rose. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in Los Angeles and other counties in the south of the state, the BBC says.
About 100,000 people were without power on Thursday evening.
The US Weather Prediction Center said that “numerous flash flooding events are possible” and warned that many streams and rivers could also flood. South California counties Ventura and San Bernardino were hit the hardest by heavy rain. As per Seattle Times, over 100 reports of flooded roads were received in Los Angeles County.
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Local authorities said a 64-year-old man in San Diego died on Wednesday after a tree fell. Another person, aged 74, died over the weekend during a rescue attempt in Redding after flood water surrounded a vehicle. On Monday, a woman in her 70s died in Mendocino County after being swept into the ocean by a wave.
Evacuation warnings were issued in parts of San Bernardino County, and flash-flood warnings were announced for the San Francisco Bay Area on Thursday morning. Wind speeds in some parts of the Bay Area reached more than 100 mph, the BBC reports.
In Altadena, near Los Angeles, mudslides were reported in areas affected by wildfire earlier this year. Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass declared an emergency and urged people to avoid travelling unless necessary.
“I am urging all Angelenos to stay safe and be extremely careful on the roads if you absolutely must travel,” she said, as quoted by the BBC. “Please do not take this storm lightly.”
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The storms were caused by multiple atmospheric rivers that carried large amounts of moisture from tropical areas during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year.
