LA CONCHITA, California, 11th January, 2023 (WAM) — The latest Pacific storm unleashed torrential downpours and damaging winds in California on Tuesday, knocking out power and turning city streets into rivers as mudslides cut off highways and entire communities faced evacuation orders, Reuters reported.
More than 33 million Californians were threatened by severe weather throughout the day as "heavy to excessive" rainfall was expected across the state, especially in southern California, as wind gusts were clocked at more than 40 miles (64 km) an hour in many places, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
The high winds wreaked havoc on the power grid, knocking out electricity to 180,000 homes and businesses as of midday Tuesday, according to data from Poweroutage.us.
The storms have killed at least 17 people since the start of the year, California Governor Gavin Newsom said.