Another storm is expected to sweep California Sunday night after historic winter weather brought freezing temperatures, dumped several feet of snow, caused widespread flooding and left tens of thousands of people without power.
Much of the state is still suffering from the effects of a multi-day winter storm that even saw snow on the Hollywood Sign and more than three feet in the northern mountains.
Videos posted online also showed RVs being swept into rivers in the Los Angeles area amid widespread flooding and sparks flying from downed power lines.
Major highways remained closed Sunday morning after drivers were stranded for hours.
Those roads could remain closed for the coming days as another storm beginning Sunday night and lasting through Wednesday brings more rain and snow.
LOS ANGELES: A father and his son stop to watch the snow during a rare snow storm on Saturday
ANGWIN: Snow blanketed a vineyard in California’s famous Napa Valley on Friday
California is now expected to be inundated by more storms in the coming days
The dangerous storms at Donner Summit have already dumped nearly five feet of snow, according to the University of California Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab.
Mount Baldy near downtown Los Angeles also measured more than a meter and Mount Laguna in San Diego County saw more than two feet of snow. Magic Mountain outside of Los Angeles also recorded wind gusts of up to 86 miles per hour.
And at Mountain High Resort in Wrightwood, about 75 miles east of Los Angeles, more than seven feet of snow fell in less than a week. The resort said it was forced to close Saturday to “use the available staff we have to dig up and clean up,” reports NBC News.
The city of Big Bear Lake also warned that all roads to the community surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forest were closed due to snow, with no estimate of when they might reopen, and Northern California’s Yosemite National Park will remain closed until at least Wednesday.
As of Sunday, Interstate 5 — the major freeway running north from Los Angeles — remained closed at the steep incline known as the Grapevine due to heavy snow, while more southerly points of the freeway in and around the city were closed due to flooding .
The city recorded 4.3 inches of rainfall while Pasadena saw 7.84 inches. A possible tornado was also reported in the community of Whittier in Los Angeles County.
Los Angeles County officials were finally forced to close 24 miles of beach from Nicholas Canyon in Malibu to White Point Beach in San Pedro for nearly two hours Saturday afternoon after lightning was observed along the coast.
As of Saturday night, more than 120,000 people across the state were without power. But as of Sunday morning, that number dropped to just over 75,000 residents and businesses, mostly in Madera County, according to PowerOutage.us, a website that tracks utility data across the country.
At the same time, a flood warning for southern California remained in effect until 11 a.m. local time.
CASTAIC: An RV begins to plunge into the Santa Clara River as flooding washes away the ground below
LOS ANGELES: A young boy played in the snow during Saturday’s storm
GREEN VALLEY: A woman was forced to clean mud from the windshield of her car in the Sierra Pelona mountains on Saturday
GREEN VALLEY: Two Good Samaritans helped a driver when his truck got stuck in the snow
CASTIAC: The Santa Clara River has flooded near an RV park due to heavy rain
LOS ANGELES: Evan Shornstein, a tourist from New York, walked along the Los Angeles River during the treacherous storm on Saturday
REDONDO BEACH: A surfer gestures as he prepares to ride the waves in the dangerous storm
Authorities say the extreme weather knocked over three RVs parked at the Valencia Travel Village RV resort in Castaic, on the north end of Los Angeles County, only to be washed into the Santa Clara River.
Video obtained by KCAL News showed one of the RVs quickly overturning and backing into the swollen river.
Ventura County Fire Department search and rescue teams advanced to the area and found the trailer, but luckily no one was in the trailer at the time.
A search and rescue team also rescued two homeless people stranded on dry-bottomed islands in the Hanson Flood Control Basin on Saturday.
The men were not injured and were released at the scene.
And in San Luis Obispo, a large tree fell on an apartment complex, displacing seven people, KSBY reports. Red Cross officials helped them find accommodation.
RANCHO CUCAMONGA: Snow blanketed a home in Rancho Cucamonga Saturday and even covered some palm trees
GREEN VALLEY: A car slid off the snowy roadway into a pond in the Sierra Pelona mountains on Saturday
REDONDO BEACH: A rider braved hail and rain during Saturday’s winter storm
LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles River overflowed during heavy rain
The National Weather Service is now warning residents of the state capital in Sacramento to avoid traveling Sunday through Wednesday as rain and snow return.
“Extreme effects of heavy snow and wind will cause extremely dangerous to impossible driving conditions and likely widespread road closures and infrastructure impacts!” the agency said on Twitter.
These new storms are expected to bring wind gusts of up to 80 km/h in the Sacramento Valley and up to 70 km/h in the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains.
A massive low-pressure system from the Arctic is responsible for the unusual conditions, said Bryan Jackson, meteorologist at the NWS Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
In Southern California, “this is a rare instance of a cold, significant storm event,” he said.