CALIFORNIA - Much of California was pounded by another wave of rain on Feb 19 in the latest storm to test the state after a deadly deluge caused widespread power outages and destructive mudslides two weeks ago.

An atmospheric river, a type of storm in which Pacific winds blow narrow, intense bands of moisture over the West Coast, brought heavy rain to Southern California in the morning and then severe thunderstorms and wind gusts to the Bay Area in the afternoon.

A map of the state from the National Weather Service lit up with warnings forecasting flood, hail and possible tornadoes.

“It’s just a huge swath of moisture,” said Mr Rich Thompson, a meteorologist with the weather service in Los Angeles.

Atmospheric rivers often cause California’s heaviest rain, snow and floods. Feb 19’s storm did not appear to be as damaging as the one earlier in February 2024. But more rain is expected over the next few days, with flood watches in effect for millions of people, mostly in California, through Feb 21.

On Feb 19 afternoon, as a storm moved into south-western San Mateo County, south of San Francisco, forecasters warned of a possible “land spout” – a weak tornado likely caused by a waterspout reaching land. Around the same time, a line of thunderstorms swept over the northern Central Valley, with forecasters predicting hail and possible flooding.

Southern California bore the brunt of the storm early on Feb 19. As much as 25cm of rain had fallen in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, with the highest totals in the foothills of the mountains, according to the weather service. The airport in Santa Barbara shut down on Feb 19 and was to remain closed “until further notice” because of flooding on the airfield.

Mr Thompson said there were many reports in the morning of “roadway flooding, some rocks and debris across roadways, road closures”.

“The soil is so saturated from the previous storm that this rain has nowhere to go,” he said.

Midmorning on Feb 19, steady rain pelted Los Angeles, and the California Highway Patrol cleared vehicle crashes. North-west of Los Angeles, at the beach in Ventura, a few hardy kite surfers braved the elements.

Flash flood warnings were in effect through Feb 19 evening for the Santa Monica Mountains, Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills.

Farther north, the San Francisco Peninsula, which includes San Francisco, was expected to receive up to 6cm of rain. Rainfall of 8cm to 13cm was expected in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and 8cm to 15cm along the Big Sur Coast.

Much of the Sacramento Valley was put under a wind advisory through the morning of Feb 20. A man who was camping near a creek in El Dorado Hills, east of Sacramento, was rescued from surging floodwaters early on Feb 19, KCRA-TV reported.

Officials in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties issued evacuation warnings for certain vulnerable communities. On Feb 19 morning, authorities in Santa Barbara found a woman’s body in Mission Creek. A Santa Barbara Police Department spokesperson, Sgt. Ethan Ragsdale, said it was too early to tell whether her death was related to the storm, but the police said no foul play was suspected.

Mission Creek can turn into a raging river during heavy rainfall; during the storm two weeks ago, the creek overflowed its banks, prompting some home evacuations.

Under a light drizzle on Feb 19 afternoon in Santa Barbara, Mr Mark Maslan and his wife, Ms Ann Cumming, walked by the swollen creek. They have lived in town since 1990 and near the creek for about two decades.

“We’re glad that the reservoirs are filling and it’s good for drought conditions, but I wonder about the resiliency of the infrastructure,” said Mr Maslan, an English professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “This creek overflowed once and it seems like it’s becoming a regular threat.”

In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass had implored residents over the weekend to prepare

In the city’s hilly neighbourhoods on Feb 18, homeowners and workers prepared sandbags and laid plastic tarps over muddy hillsides that still bore the scars of the last storm.

Some residents, including Ms Staci Broussard, 58, took care to reinforce their properties soon after the previous storm. Ms Broussard’s home in Baldwin Hills Estates, a neighbourhood overlooking South Los Angeles, was damaged by the previous atmospheric river to rip through the city.

The slope behind Ms Broussard’s home crumbled, knocking down a portion of her backyard iron fence, bringing mud and vegetation down the hill from her neighbour’s home on a hill above.

Ms Broussard and her neighbour staked down tarps over the hillside to prevent more mud from sliding down.

“As you can see, we have tarps all over because this is happening all over this neighbourhood, unfortunately,” Ms Broussard said on Feb 18. NYTIMES