LOS ANGELES (AP) — Torrential rains drenched parts of Southern California on Friday, leading to new flash flood warnings following earlier storms that put the region on track for near-record November rainfall, the National Weather Service said.
Before dawn Friday, residents were warned of flash flooding of streets, creeks and streams and possible mudslides in several parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties. In coastal Huntington Beach, rain flowed through some streets like a stream.
The most recent flash flood warnings from the National Weather Service covered areas spanning from downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica to Mission Viejo in Orange County. Some vehicles were stuck in floodwaters near Culver City before dawn on Friday, the weather service reported.
In Huntington Beach, much of the water had receded by Friday morning. One neighborhood remained flooded after a local pond overflowed, spilling water into the streets and trapping parked cars.
AP AUDIO: Torrential rains return to Southern California, prompting new flash flood fears, threat of mudslides
In an AP interview, meteorologist William Churchill, with the National Weather Service Prediction Center says about one inch of rain fell in just 30 minutes in parts of Southern California.
A series of storms beginning Nov. 13 has unleashed copious amounts of rain, more than four times the normal amount that typically falls in November in downtown Los Angeles, according to weather service reports.
In a normal November, downtown Los Angeles typically gets 0.78 of an inch (2 centimeters) of rain, but has already seen about 3.5 inches (8.9 centimeters) this month.
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Santa Barbara County has been a magnet for the moisture. Parts of the Santa Ynez Mountains have seen more than 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain this month, the weather service said.
A potent atmospheric river is blamed for causing at least a half-dozen deaths earlier this month as it rolled across much of California. Heavy rains also bring the threat of mudslides in areas that were recently ravaged by wildfire.
Atmospheric rivers are long and relatively narrow bands of water vapor that form over an ocean and flow through the sky, transporting much of the moisture from the tropics to northern latitudes.
