Harry and Meghan's Montecito neighborhood was among several Southern California neighborhoods that were inundated with several inches of rain and flash flooding on Thursday, leaving vehicles stranded on flooded roads.
Nearby Oxnard received a month's worth of rain in one hour during a storm that battered Southern California as Christmas travel got underway, and more rain could hit the region on Friday.
The downpours focused on Ventura and covered Santa Barbara and Montecito, where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex live with their children. The family is currently away from home on holiday.
Counties northwest of Los Angeles County were also hit overnight, flooding areas in the cities of Port Hueneme, Oxnard and Santa Barbara, where a detective carried a woman on his back after the SUV they were in rode got stuck in knee-deep water.
Between midnight and 1 a.m. local time, the storm dumped 3.18 inches of rain on downtown Oxnard, surpassing the average of 2.56 inches for the entire month of December, according to the National Weather Service.
Harry and Meghan's Montecito neighborhood was among several Southern California neighborhoods that were inundated with several inches of rain and flash flooding on Thursday, leaving vehicles stranded on flooded roads.
The downpours focused on Ventura and covered Santa Barbara and Montecito, where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex live with their children. The family is currently away from home on holiday
The deluge caused flash flooding in Ventura County around 1:30 a.m., the weather service said.
Later in the morning, streets in parts of Santa Barbara began to fill with water as the storm caused another deluge.
By afternoon the rain and wind had subsided and residents ventured outside to view the damage.
By late afternoon, the city of Port Hueneme had lifted the evacuation order for homes on four streets.
About 60 homes were affected by the orders, all in a senior community, said Fire Marshal Andy VanSciver, a Ventura County fire spokesman. An evacuation center was set up in a university gymnasium.
Three people from the senior community were taken to hospitals out of an abundance of caution and there were several rescues of drivers from flooded vehicles, he said.
The city of Oxnard said in a social media post that many streets and intersections were heavily affected.
“Please stay off the city streets for the next few hours until the waters recede,” the post read.
Detective Bryce Ford of the Santa Barbara Police Department helps a motorist out of her car on a flooded street during a rainstorm
Dental assistant Lily Tovar mops the floor at Smile Dental Care after flooding from heavy rain
A man walks past a submerged vehicle on a flooded street in Santa Barbara
Counties northwest of Los Angeles County were also hit overnight, flooding areas in the cities of Port Hueneme, Oxnard and Santa Barbara, where a detective carried a woman on his back after the SUV they were in rode got stuck in knee-deep water.
A southbound exit off Highway 101 in the Montecito neighborhood where Harry and Meghan live saw a small mudslide and flooding
Between midnight and 1 a.m. local time, the storm dumped 3.18 inches of rainfall on downtown Oxnard, surpassing the average of 2.56 inches for the entire month of December, according to the National Weather Service.
By afternoon the rain and wind had subsided and residents ventured outside to view the damage
A man sees motorists driving through a flooded street during a rain shower
“This is a truly dramatic storm,” climate scientist Daniel Swain of the University of California, Los Angeles, said in an online briefing.
“In Oxnard in particular, there were overnight downpours that preliminary data suggest were likely the heaviest downpours ever recorded in that part of Southern California.”
The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Oxnard and the city of Ventura at 1:28 a.m. due to a high-intensity thunderstorm, but no tornado activity was immediately observed, the Ventura County Sheriff's Office said in a social media post.
Hours later, at Heritage Coffee and Gifts in downtown Oxnard, manager Carlos Larios said the storm had not made a dent in their Thursday morning rush hour despite “gloomy” skies.
“People are still coming in for coffee, which is surprising,” he said. “I don't think the rain will stop many people from going out.”
The storm tore through Northern California earlier this week as the center of the low-pressure system slowly moved south off the coast.
Forecasters described it as a “cutoff low,” a storm cut off from the general west-to-east flow that could linger for days, increasing rainfall amounts.
The system produced variable rainfall bands rather than general, widespread rainfall.
A vehicle becomes flooded at an overpass while it is raining
The storm tore through Northern California earlier this week as the center of the low-pressure system slowly moved south off the coast
“This is a truly dramatic storm,” climate scientist Daniel Swain of the University of California, Los Angeles, said in an online briefing
A man tries to push a vehicle out of a flooded street as it rains in Santa Barbara
A fire hydrant is partially submerged on a flooded street
Forecasters said Thursday's low would swing slightly offshore, moving away moisture and allowing some sunshine, but returning.
The San Diego-area weather office warned that instead of fissing out, the storm was gathering energy and that its main core would move through that area overnight through Friday morning.
The National Weather Service issued a Flood Watch for the county, as well as much of Southwest California, on Friday.
Showers and thunderstorms could drop up to an inch of rain over the course of the day, but the real concern was that some areas could be drenched with half to an inch of rain within an hour, causing streams, creeks and rivers to overflow. the weather service said.
According to the Weather Prediction Center, parts of Southern California are at a slight Level 2 risk for excessive rainfall Friday.
On Thursday, motorists were stranded in their vehicles on flooded roads northwest of Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Californians were gearing up for holiday travel and finalizing Christmas preparations.
The Automobile Club of Southern California predicted that 9.5 million people in the region would travel during the holiday season.