California is bracing for more extreme weather this week following the devastating impacts of an atmospheric, “river in the sky” event.
Although conditions are not expected to be as severe as the state has seen recently, officials say there is cause for concern.
Last week, swathes of the state experienced torrential downpours, flash flooding and hurricane-force winds. Los Angeles had 500 landslides in a matter of days. Nine people were killed from falling trees, vehicle collisions, and cars being swept away by raging waters.
The first of the three new weather systems blew in from the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, though with moderate impacts. The storm will continue to push eastwards through the weekend.
The next two storms are expected to sweep ashore from early next week, bringing more heavy downpours for much of the state.
The incoming rounds of heavy precipitation have the potential to produce isolated flash flooding along the northern California coast, the National Weather Service warned, before pushing into central and southern parts of the state.
Record rainfall, triple-digit winds, hundreds of mudslides. Here's California's storm by the numbers