It appeared like a swirling specter off the coast of California.
For days, forecasters warned of life-threatening effects as an atmospheric river prepared to unleash a firehose of moisture from Northern California to the Mexican border.
By Monday, those warnings had largely come to pass as the storm lashed the state — damaging homes, crumbling hillsides, flooding neighborhoods and knocking out power to more than 875,000 people. At least three people were killed by falling trees in Northern California, state officials said.
The hazards were also acute in Los Angeles, where the slow-moving system parked itself for more than 24 hours and delivered record-setting precipitation with no signs of letting up. It prompted a state of emergency declaration from Gov. Gavin Newsom, as well as a local emergency declaration from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
Experts said the monster storm was the culmination of a variety of factors, including El Niño, climate change and regular winter weather patterns. California typically receives the bulk of its rainfall between January and March, so by that metric, the storm was right on schedule.