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Image: A firefighter carries a woman from her car after it was caught in street flooding

Weather

Powerful California Storms Leave Thousands Without Power

The strongest Pacific storm in years blew into Southern California on Friday with wind-driven heavy rains, leaving thousands without power.

/ 13 PHOTOS
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A man struggles against gusty wind and heavy rain as he walks along a pier on Feb. 17, 2017, in Huntington Beach, Calif.

A huge Pacific storm that parked itself over Southern California and unloaded, ravaging roads, opening sinkholes and leading to the deaths of at least three people, eased off Saturday. But it was only a temporary reprieve as new storms took aim farther north.

Jae C. Hong / AP
Image: Strongest Storm In Six Years Slams Southern California

A bicyclist rides along a flooded street as a powerful storm moves across Southern California on Friday in Sun Valley, California.

After years of severe drought, heavy winter rains came to the state, and with them, the issuance of flash flood watches in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, and the evacuation of hundreds of residents from Duarte, California for fear of flash flooding from areas denuded by a wildfire last year.

David McNew / Getty Images
Image: Schoolchildren race back to their bus after getting caught in heavy rain during a school trip

Schoolchildren race back to their bus after getting caught in heavy rain during a school trip, as the strongest storm in six years slams Los Angeles on Friday.

Mark Ralston / AFP - Getty Images
Image: A firefighter carries a woman from her car after it was caught in street flooding

A firefighter carries a woman from her car after it was caught in street flooding Friday in Sun Valley.

With the storm feeding on an atmospheric river of moisture stretching far out into the Pacific, precautionary evacuations of homes in some neighborhoods were requested due to the potential for mudslides and debris flows.

David McNew / Getty Images
Image: Stan Ross of Newport Beach digs up some sand near the Balboa Pier in Newport Beach

Stan Ross digs up sand near the Balboa Pier in Newport Beach, Calif., early Saturday, as he looks for coins and jewelry following Friday's storm that eroded the beach.

Winds gusting to 70 mph or more lashed parts of the region. Heavy rains turned creeks and rivers into brown torrents and released slews of mud from hillsides burned barren by wildfires.

Mark Rightmire / The Orange County Register via AP
Image: Neighbors walk by a fallen tree that crushed a car

Neighbors walk by a fallen tree that crushed a car in Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles on Saturday.

 

Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP
Image: Inspectors examine a sinkhole in Studio City

Inspectors examine a sinkhole in Studio City, north of Los Angeles, on Saturday. Two vehicles fell into the 20-foot sinkhole on Friday night and firefighters had to rescue one woman who escaped her car but was found standing on her overturned vehicle.

Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP file
Image: Officials look over the scene where a San Bernardino County Fire Department fire engine fell from southbound Interstate 15

Officials look over the scene where a San Bernardino County Fire Department fire engine fell from southbound Interstate 15 where part of the freeway collapsed due to heavy rain in the Cajon Pass, Calif., Saturday.

David Pardo / The Daily Press via AP
Image: Kelp fills the beach in Newport Beach

Kelp fills the beach as a couple takes their dog for a walk during a break in the weather in Newport Beach, Calif. early Saturday.

Mark Rightmire / AP
Image: A fallen tree crushes a car outside a residence n Sherman Oaks

A fallen tree crushes a car outside a residence in Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles on Saturday. Hundreds of trees and dozens of power lines had toppled in the Los Angeles area and at one point more than 60,000 city power customers were without electricity.

Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP
Image: An abandoned Kia sedan is seen stuck in heavy mud in Lone Pine Canyon Road

An abandoned Kia sedan is seen stuck in heavy mud in Lone Pine Canyon Road near Highway 138 in Phelan, Calif., on Saturday.

David Pardo / The Daily Press via AP
Image: An official looks over the scene where a tractor trailer and a San Bernardino County Fire Department fire engine fell

An official looks over the scene where a tractor trailer fell from southbound Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass on Saturday.

David Pardo / The Daily Press via AP
Image: A man with a dog jogs along a sand berm as storm clouds clear in Seal Beach

A man with a dog jogs along a sand berm as storm clouds clear Saturday in Seal Beach.

Jae C. Hong / AP
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