LOS ANGELES - Swaths of the US state of California were flooded yesterday, and hundreds of thousands of people were without power after a dangerous storm brought heavy rains and prompted a state of emergency. “This is a serious storm, with dangerous and potentially life-threatening impacts,” said Governor Gavin Newsom as he declared the state of emergency for eight counties in Southern California.

Affected areas include Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Santa Barbara. Nearly 700 000 customers were without power early yesterday morning, according to the electricity supply tracker PowerOutage.us.

Dozens of flights in and out of Los Angeles Airport were delayed or cancelled, according to flightaware.com.

The National Weather Service (NWS) had earlier issued a warning that a “strong Pacific storm system would bring
 impactful and dangerous flooding rains, heavy snow, strong winds, coastal flooding and high surf to California”.

“Heavy rainfall will bring the threat for life-threatening flash, urban and river flooding as well as debris flows and mudslides,” said NWS.

The storm, packing gusts of 60 miles per hour or greater, is part of a “Pineapple Express”, a weather phenomenon which grows in Hawaii from near where the tropical moisture is coming. The NWS described it as “the largest storm of the season”.
 - Nampa/AFP