Dozens of drivers trapped by mudslides as heavy rain and flash floods soak California
Over 50 people were rescued over the weekend after getting trapped in mudslides triggered by the remnants of Hurricane Kay in Southern California.
After Kay made landfall Thursday on Mexico’s Baja peninsula, it drenched parts of Southern California with punishing winds and record rainfall. Kay downgraded to a tropical storm Thursday and to a post-tropical cyclone Friday evening.
A mudslide in the Lake Hughes area was reported around 7:40 p.m. local time (10:40 p.m. ET) Sunday evening that trapped dozens of vehicles on Pine Canyon Road near Shaffer Road, about 65 miles north of Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
A total of 24 vehicles were stuck and 53 people "accounted for," including multiple people hoisted out to safety, the National Weather Service office in Los Angeles said in a preliminary storm report.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department's Air Operations Section also shared photos showing Firehawk helicopters using night vision technology to rescue eight adults and six children from five different sites on the flooded Pine Canyon Road.
The remnants of Kay also led to road closures at Death Valley National Park in California on Saturday where it created rushing small waterfalls at the typically dry desert and led to debris and pavement loss.
California highway 190 was closed from CA-136 junction to Stovepipe Wells Village, and Badwater Road was completely closed, the National Park Service said. Rangers warned people to leave the area, and on Saturday, about 40 vehicles were blocked by active flooding on CA-190 west of Towne Pass.
The weather woes are not yet over for California.
Flash flooding is possible in Ventura and Los Angeles County mountains and the region's interior valleys with lingering showers and thunderstorms forecast through Monday, according to the National Weather Service. The storms can also produce gusty winds, small hail and dangerous lightning, according to the weather service.
Kay is, however, bringing some respite to the West that has baked under an intense heat wave, with cooler temperatures forecast for this week compared to last, according to the weather service in San Diego.