Flooding and Mudslides Hit Southern California With ‘Pineapple Express’ Storm
A Pacific storm hit Southern California with heavy rains and wind on Friday, triggering flash floods and mudslides. Hundreds of homes were under evacuation orders, and more than a dozen houses were damaged.
LOS ANGELES—A Pacific storm hit Southern California with heavy rains and wind on Friday, triggering flash floods and mudslides. Hundreds of homes were under evacuation orders, and more than a dozen houses were damaged.
The rain came as part of a storm from Hawaii that has been called a “Pineapple Express” and has affected the whole West Coast.
All across Los Angeles County the rains caused areas of flooding, road closures, and traffic build-ups.
About 1,000 homes were given evacuation orders on Thursday night in the northeast Los Angeles suburb of Glendora, where mudslides from a wildfire-burned area left several roads impassable overnight. At least a dozen were red-tagged as uninhabitable. Flowing mud and rocks also threatened homes in Azusa to the east of Glendora.
For Casillas though, she says this is the price you pay for living in the foothills of Southern California.
“We’ve lived up here for a while,” said Casillas. “We kind of were prepared for it, so we understand. With the beauty being up here in Monrovia, there comes other things with it – fires, rains, and that’s ok.”
The “Pineapple Express” phenomena refers to a long, narrow stream of moisture from the tropics that travels into the western United States.
The latest forecast from the National Weather Service is that the storm will continue to leave rain in warmer areas along the West Coast and snow in higher, mountainous regions over the weekend. As it moves inland, strong winds, rain and snow are expected in some western states.