Latest weather report suggests rain over Los Angeles could worsen this afternoon My colleague Gabrielle Canon, the Guardian’s extreme weather correspondent, reports that the rain in Los Angeles, which had let up slightly in the late morning, could worsen through this afternoon: And that’s not all: new projections from the NWS also suggest the rain could continue through Wednesday, rather than ending on Tuesday: The newest wrinkle is some projections showing another small low pressure area dropping off the coast on Wednesday and producing another organized band of rain that will sweep through California Wednesday night into Thursday. While any additional rain through the event will be generally light to moderate in intensity…locally heavy but brief downpours (rates of 0.5 to 1.0 inches per hour) are expected… LA activists describe struggle to connect unhoused people with shelter in the storm When Los Angeles is pummeled with intense amounts of rain, the people at the greatest risk are the estimated 50,000 local residents who are unsheltered, living outside in tents, cars, or makeshift encampments. Despite Los Angeles’ typically warm climate, deaths of exposure are a serious risk: 14 unhoused people died of hypothermia here in 2021. While Los Angeles county does open severe weather shelters during periods of dangerous weather, getting a place in one of those shelters is not always easy. KTownforAll, a local advocacy organization focused on homelessness, described the problems its volunteers encountered when they tried to help a local woman find a bed in a shelter this past weekend: The 211 operator “clearly felt bad” and “gave us three more phone numbers to try, just in case,” the activists said. But when they called those numbers, they found yet more hurdles: As storms continue, Los Angeles tallies up new rainfall records Our extreme weather reporter Gabrielle Canon flags a new record at UCLA: Video: heavy storm in California downs trees and floods roads California is being drenched by a giant atmospheric river-fueled storm that has caused record levels of rain, dangerous flooding and violent winds that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands. Nearly 38 million people are under flood alerts across the state and into Arizona, including about 10 million people in Los Angeles county. At least three people have reportedly died because of the storm, struck by felled trees that toppled on to or around their homes. Disneyland, open during today’s storm, will close early this evening Southern California’s Magic Kingdom park was still open to visitors today, despite the weather, but will be closing early tonight, at 8pm rather than at 10pm, according to the OC Register’s dedicated theme park reporter: Third reported California storm death is 42-year-old man near Sacramento Local news outlets are reporting a third storm-related death in Northern California: a 42-year-old man from Carmichael, who died after a tree fell on him on Sunday. Two previous storm-related deaths have been reported in California: a man in Yuba City was found dead under a tree, and a person in Santa Cruz county died after a tree fell onto their residence. More photos of mudslides in Beverly Crest area of Los Angeles We reported earlier today on mudslides burying cars in Beverly Crest, a Los Angeles neighborhood north of Beverly Hills. Fifteen people, including nine children, were evacuated from homes in Beverly Crest where debris flows damaged six homes, the Los Angeles fire department had said. The Associated Press has more images of multiple vehicles sunk in the mud. Latest weather report suggests rain over Los Angeles could worsen this afternoon My colleague Gabrielle Canon, the Guardian’s extreme weather correspondent, reports that the rain in Los Angeles, which had let up slightly in the late morning, could worsen through this afternoon: And that’s not all: new projections from the NWS also suggest the rain could continue through Wednesday, rather than ending on Tuesday: The newest wrinkle is some projections showing another small low pressure area dropping off the coast on Wednesday and producing another organized band of rain that will sweep through California Wednesday night into Thursday. While any additional rain through the event will be generally light to moderate in intensity…locally heavy but brief downpours (rates of 0.5 to 1.0 inches per hour) are expected… Sunday was ‘tenth wettest day’ in LA history, mayor says This is Lois Beckett, picking up our live news coverage in Los Angeles. Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass said during a news conference that Sunday was “tenth wettest day in the history of this city”, going back to 1877, the year when current rain-tracking records began. “Stay safe and off the roads. Only leave your house if it is absolutely necessary,” she urged city residents. First responders had been working around the clock to respond to the storm, she said. “We have had to rescue individuals in certain neighborhoods because they did not follow the evacuation orders,” Bass said. “We ask that when notified that you need to evacuate, please do that so you do not end up needing to be rescued.” Midday summary Here’s what we’ve seen so far today from the major atmospheric river-fueled storm that is unfolding in California: About 1.4 million people in the Los Angeles area, including the Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills, were under a flash flood warning on Monday morning. All of Los Angeles county, which is home to nearly 10 million people, was under a flood advisory. The rain is expected to continue battering southern California into Tuesday. Up to 9in of rain had already fallen in the area, and more was expected, according to the National Weather Service. The NWS said that flash flooding and threat of mudslides have created “a particularly dangerous situation.” The intense weather has triggered mud and debris flows in the Hollywood Hills and the Santa Monica mountains. Firefighters reported helping evacuate several homes in multiple neighborhoods after mud, rocks and trees flowed into residences. Nearly 400,000 homes and businesses are currently without power and more than one million people are likely being impacted by the outages. The outages have largely been concentrated in northern California, which was hit hard by storms on Sunday. Authorities are investigating two deaths that appear to be related to the extreme weather. A man in Yuba City was found dead under a tree and a person in Santa Cruz county died after a tree fell onto their residence. My colleague Lois Beckett will have more on the storm, so stay tuned. It appears that power is being restored in some areas Nearly 400,000 homes and businesses are without power across the state, according to poweroutage.us. That’s down from Monday morning when more than 500,000 customers were experiencing outages. Still, the outages are likely impacting more than one million people in the state. Pacific Gas and Electric, which serves nearly half of all Californians, said it had restored power to about 765,000 of its customers since Sunday. The storm was one of the most damaging on record, the utility said. “In terms of outage totals, this was one of the top three most damaging, single-day storms on record, only comparable to storms 2008 and 1995,” Sumeet Singh, the company’s chief operating officer said on Monday. “We understand how difficult it is to be without electricity. Please know we are here to support you and we will not rest until the lights are back on.” An avalanche warning has been issued for the central Sierra Nevada, including around Lake Tahoe, as the region sees an “intense pulse of snowfall” that will likely bring another foot of snow. “This combined with strong winds will fuel ongoing snowpack instability and keep natural avalanches very likely today,” the Sierra Avalanche Center said in a statement. The region has been battered by intense winds in recent days. The ski resort Palisades Tahoe saw a wind gust of 148mph on Sunday, according to Accuweather. The warning comes just a month after an avalanche at a Lake Tahoe ski resort left one person dead. Another debris flow has been reported in Los Angeles Fifteen people, including nine children, were evacuated from homes in Beverly Crest where debris flows damaged six homes, the Los Angeles fire department said. Footage from the scene showed dense mud that buried at least one vehicle. Firefighters in southern California have rescued people trapped in cars and along rivers amid harrowing conditions. In Riverside county, crews rescued two people and their dogs who were stranded on the riverbottom early Monday morning, and just hours later rescued two more people from another area of the river. Firefighters in San Bernardino county rescued three people from a tree after they attempted to cross a flooded road and water flooded their vehicle. The governor’s office of emergency services stationed water rescue teams with fire departments and counties across the state in preparation for the extreme weather. Brian Ferguson, the office’s deputy director of crisis communications, has described the situation as “a significant threat to the safety of Californians”.