Overview
- After a deluge on Christmas Eve, a new surge on Christmas Day kept much of Southern California under a Level 3 of 4 excessive‑rainfall risk, with additional 2 to 4 inches possible in Los Angeles and higher totals in nearby mountains.
- Evacuation orders and door‑to‑door checks targeted burn‑scar neighborhoods as crews conducted rescues in Wrightwood and Lytle Creek and opened a shelter in Victorville.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Shasta counties, and Los Angeles issued a local emergency to speed resources.
- The storm flooded highways and closed stretches of I‑5, left roughly 150,000 to 165,000 customers without power at times, and produced severe thunderstorms in the Bay Area with wind gusts over 70 mph.
- Feet of Sierra Nevada snow forced chain controls on I‑80 and raised avalanche danger, while forecasters expect showers to linger into Friday before a gradual drying trend this weekend; officials have reported several storm‑related deaths.