Feb. 4 (UPI) — California residents are bracing for “life-threatening” flooding, mudslides and power outages as an atmospheric river moves in Sunday, which is forecast to cause record rainfall and emergency conditions through Tuesday.
Thirty-seven million people are at risk for record flooding, according to forecasters.
The powerful storm is projected to dump a month’s worth of rainfall on Los Angeles in the span of four hours and cause heavy snowfall on other parts of the state, as well.
An atmospheric river is a long, narrow moisture band that carries saturated air thousands of miles then discharges it like a fire hose, weather experts explain.
Rainfall rates of up to an inch per hour will bring 3 to 6 inches of rain in Los Angeles, in addition to Santa Barbara and Oxnard.
A more widespread risk exists for much of coastal California, including San Francisco, potentially causing “life threatening flash and urban flash flooding,” CNN’s weather prediction said .
Forecasters expanded the excessive rainfall alert to a maximum Level 4 on Sunday, which pulled Los Angeles and other locales in southern California into the warning.