Parts of central and southern California have been hit by heavy downpours which has led to flash flooding.
This is the second such spell of heavy downpours to hit the region in a week. This has led to major travel disruptions and chaos on the roads. This is because these downpours caused mudslides and were accompanied by strong, gusty winds and large hail.
While in all this chaos some good news has come with about 10% of California no longer under drought for the first time in four years.
Unsettled weather started on Thursday night with heavy downpours causing flooding across the roads of Ontario which is around 55 km east of downtown Los Angeles. Some areas recorded as much as 50 mm of rain by Friday night. Due to this the National Weather Service had issued flash flood warnings for the mountain areas of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, as well as the Antelope and Cuyama valleys.
The city of Fresno which is 350 km northwest of Los Angeles was one of the worst hit cities in the region. The authorities were forced to close down the interstate-5 freeway because of mudslides on the freeway. Fresno recorded around 430 mm of rain in a matter of hours on Friday making road travel dangerous. The rain continued on Saturday as well. As of now the rain has moved eastwards and has eased from the region.
The same storm system caused a rare snowstorm from around Big Bear Lake to east of Los Angeles. Now this storm system threatens the central and southern plains.
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