REDDING, Calif. (AP) — Heavy rain and flash flooding inundated roads across Northern California, prompting water rescues from vehicles and homes and leaving at least one person dead, authorities said Monday.
In Redding, a city at the northern edge of California’s Central Valley, a motorist died after calling 911 while trapped inside a vehicle that was rapidly filling with water, Mayor Mike Littau said in an online post. Police reported receiving numerous calls from drivers stranded in flooded areas.
“Redding police officer swam out into the water, broke the windows and pulled victim to shore. CPR was done but the person did not live,” Littau wrote.
The National Weather Service said the Redding area received between 3 and 6 inches of rain from Saturday through Sunday night.
As scattered showers continued into Monday, several local roads remained flooded while street crews worked to clear debris and tow abandoned vehicles.
Dekoda Cruz waded through knee-deep muddy water to check on a friend’s flooded tire business, where furniture and floating tires filled the office.
Redding’s mayor warned residents to prepare for more dangerous weather in the coming days, and the city distributed free sandbags ahead of the next storm.
The National Weather Service expects rain to persist through Christmas week as a series of atmospheric rivers move through Northern California. A large portion of the Sacramento Valley and surrounding areas remained under a flood watch through Friday.
An atmospheric river is a long, narrow band of water vapor that forms over the ocean and transports moisture from the tropics to higher latitudes.
Forecasters said the weather pattern is expected to intensify by midweek, raising the risk of mudslides, rockslides, and flooding in creeks and streams. Parts of the Sierra Nevada could receive up to 6 feet of snow, while winds at higher elevations may reach 55 mph by Wednesday.
The weather service warned that travel through mountain passes on Christmas Day could be “difficult to near impossible.”
Southern California is also expected to see a wet Christmas, with some areas of Ventura County forecast to receive up to 11 inches of rain by Saturday. Portions of Los Angeles, including burn scar areas from the deadly Palisades fire, will be under evacuation warnings starting Tuesday.
The weather service urged travelers to make backup plans for holiday travel.
Earlier this month, persistent atmospheric rivers soaked Washington state with nearly 5 trillion gallons of rain in a single week, pushing rivers toward record flood levels, meteorologists said. That rainfall was intensified by warm air, unusual weather patterns, and conditions linked to a tropical cyclone in Indonesia.
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