The storm was expected to be a major rain event for drought-stricken California, 3 to 5 inches of rain through Friday for San Francisco, Sacramento and other northern cities. By Thursday night, the unincorporated Sonoma County community of Venado had recorded more than 9.3 inches of rain.
“It’s like a fully loaded Super Soaker that just unloads onto parts of California for a couple days straight,” said Ari Sarsalari, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel.
Almost 240 flights were canceled into and out of San Francisco International Airport, and 320 others were delayed.
Police in Glendora, near Los Angeles, ordered mandatory evacuations beginning Thursday night for residents in the area ravaged by the Colby Fire in January. Overnight rain was expected to cause mud slides in areas where the fire burned off vegetation that would have held the earth in place. More than 120 homes were under voluntary evacuation advisories in Camarillo Springs in Ventura County because of similar conditions.
At Vandenberg Air Force Base, Thursday night’s scheduled launch of an Atlas V rocket carrying classified cargo for the National Reconnaissance Office was scrubbed because of “predicted violations of multiple weather criteria,” the Air Force said.
The National Weather Service warned that major flooding was possible in Humboldt County, California, where the Eel River could reach 26.1 feet by Friday at Fernbridge — more than 12 feet above flood stage.
At least two deaths have been reported.
