A state of emergency was declared across many areas of southern California Wednesday as the strongest series of storms in decades pummeled the normally balmy region. So far the storm has caused relatively little damage or loss of life. But with meteorologists, authorities and residents bracing for the most powerful wave Wednesday, the fear was that the Golden State would be engulfed in a torrent of mudslides, flooding, tidal surges, thunderstorms and hail, according to dpa. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Kern, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo and Tulare counties because of the storms. Authorities were particularly concerned about hillsides that had been devastated by wildfires in recent years, where the deep saturation could cause massive mudslides. Over 200 homes in the La Crescenta and La Canada Flintridge suburbs of Los Angeles were evacuated for fear that fast moving debris could shoot down the areas' steep mountainsides. In trendy Laguna Beach, the entire downtown area was covered in mud that was 30 centimetres deep in some places as a storm channel overflowed. Dozens of roads across the region were closed because of the weather, including a major freeway interchange near the town of Pomona that was hit with mud and rockslides. Since Friday alone, downtown Los Angeles has received over 12 centimeters of rain, breaking records that go back to 1921, and representing over a third of the location's average annual rainfall. Rain was expected to fall at a rate of over 2 centimetres per hour on Wednesday. Mammoth Mountain, southern California's largest winter sports area, has been buried under a record of some 5 metres of snow that has fallen since last week and a record high wind of 262 kilometres per hour was registered at the resort's peak, according to the National Weather Service. Such storms are highly unusual, according to Bill Hoffer, spokesman for the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
