LOS ANGELES (news agencies) — The slow-moving atmospheric river that was finally moving out of California on Wednesday unleashed record rainfall, triple-digit winds and hundreds of mudslides.
Here is the historic storm by the numbers:
In four days, downtown Los Angeles got soaked by more than 8 inches (20 cm) of rain — more than half of the 14.25 inches (36 cm) it normally gets per year.
That is according to the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles office, which has records dating back to 1877.
February tends to be one of the city’s rainier months. Only seven days into the month, it is already the 13th wettest February on record.
Downtown Los Angeles wasn’t the only spot that received colossal amounts of rain. About 12 miles (19 kilometers) to the northwest, the hills of Bel Air got more than a foot — 13.04 inches (34 cm) — between Sunday and late Wednesday morning.
Several other locations in Los Angeles County received more than a foot of rain during the four-day span, including Sepulveda Canyon, Topanga Canyon, Cogswell Dam and Woodland Hills.
A gust of 102 mph (164 kph) was recorded Sunday at Pablo Point in Marin County, just north of San Francisco, at an elevation of 932 feet (284 meters).
While just missing the December 1995 record of 103 mph (166 kph) at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, “102 is very, very impressive,” said meteorologist Nicole Sarment at the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office.
The top 10 strongest gusts — between 102 and 89 mph (164 and 143 kph) — recorded at the height of the weekend’s winds were all in Marin and nearby Santa Clara County, the weather service said. Gusts above 80 mph (129 kph) were also recorded in Napa and Monterey counties.
Other wind readings Sunday included 77 mph (124 kph) at the San Francisco airport, 61 mph (98 kph) at the Oakland airport and 59 mph (95 kph) at the San Jose airport.
By Wednesday, crews had responded to 520 mudslides across Los Angeles, according to the mayor’s office. The mudslides closed roads across the city, smashed into homes and prompted evacuation orders in canyon neighborhoods with burn scars from recent wildfires.
Emergency crews also responded to more than 400 fallen trees.
Those numbers could rise because even though rain was diminishing, already sodden hillsides still threatened to give way.
So far, 12 buildings have been deemed uninhabitable, the city said. And at least 30 were yellow-tagged, meaning residents could go back to get their belongings but could not stay because of the damage. Inspections were ongoing at dozens more properties.
All the rain brought one silver lining: Helping to boost the state’s often-strapped water supply. More than 7 billion gallons (26.5 billion liters) of storm water in Los Angeles County were captured for groundwater and local supplies, the mayor’s office said. Just two years ago, nearly all of California was plagued by a devastating drought that strained resources and forced water cutbacks.
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