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By Chloe Mayer
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As heavy rain lashed California during a fierce winter storm, forecasters' worst fears began to materialize with mudflows and landslides hitting Los Angeles.
Shocked bystanders and storm-chasers documented the damage as mud, rocks and vegetation were swept down hillsides and mountains to deluge the land below.
Footage emerged as the National Weather Service warned that "locally catastrophic and life-threatening flooding is expected" in some parts of California. The state has been battered by storms and buffeted by high winds in recent days, and eight areas had already been flooded by early Tuesday morning.
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Storm-chasing videographer Max Olson (@MesoMax919) posted dramatic footage on social media site X (formerly Twitter), captioning the clip: "Damaging mudflow in the Laurel Canyon area, we saw wood, and pieces of kitchenware flowing down earlier."
The 13-second video showed extremely fast-moving water gushing down the steep canyon road in Los Angeles, which had effectively created a river on what had been a regular street just shortly before. The water barreled past homes and cars parked on driveways, just feet away.
Another storm-chaser, Reed Timmer, who describes himself as an "extreme meteorologist," shared a string of videos to his X account (@ReedTimmerAccu).
One X post showed churning waters filmed from a bridge, which was captioned: "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! [cubic feet per second.]"
Another of his clips showed a "land slide near Rustic Canyon, CA." The footage showed how earth, vegetation, rocks, and debris that had slipped down from higher ground to cover part of one lane on a road still being soaked by heavy rain.
Mudslides on Lockridge Road in Fryman Canyon have caused the evacuation of 16 people so far. And celebrities are among those facing evacuation as the road is home to a number of stars, including Leah Remini, Bruno Mars, George Clooney, and Zooey Deschanel.
The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, declared a state of emergency for several counties in Southern California on Sunday as part of his team's efforts to respond to the storms.
His office also posted instructions on X explaining how residents should keep themselves safe, with four main pieces of advice: sign up for local alerts at CalAlerts.org; avoid non-essential travel; be prepared for possible power outages with electronics kept charged and a supply of flashlights and batteries on hand; and willingness to follow the guidance of local authorities, such as evacuation orders and road closures.
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The news comes after a year in which extreme weather events rocked the country. While some areas, such as Illinois, experienced flooded homes and submerged cars following torrential rain, other parts of the country, such as Texas, were parched when they were hit with heatwaves.
Researchers and scientists have told Newsweek their predictions for the future amid fears that climate change will make extreme weather patterns worse.
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