Thousands without power in Southern California

A record-breaking storm slammed parched Southern California on Tuesday, sending rainfall gushing down roadways and turning the morning commute treacherous.

The Los Angeles Fire Department received reports of a man and a dog stuck atop a tree in the riverbed near Shoredale Avenue in the Elysian Valley area around 7:30 a.m. The man, later identified as David Quinones, and his dog were pulled safely off the tree onto dry ground by swift-water rescue crews.

Parents of special needs student found dead on Southern California school bus are questioning how their son could have been forgotten. Nobody was hurt.

Gutters overflowed and floodwaters rushed down residential streets throughout greater Los Angeles.

About 150 residents were evacuated from a West Hollywood assisted living apartment building early Tuesday morning after water began leaking from the roof and into light fixtures.

Widespread power outages were reported.

The National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for Los Angeles County until 11:15 a.m. PT. NWS said moderate to heavy rain would cause “minor flooding” in the area.

“El Nino increases your odds for getting more energetic storms, but you can’t really attribute it to any specific storm”, he said.

The storm stretched east into inland desert regions and south to Orange and San Diego counties.

It was expected to dump up to one-half inch of rain in L.A. County, with the highest totals along coastal slopes, federal forecasters said.

Marginally lower temperatures were expected under partly cloudy skies tomorrow, followed by a slight temperature uptick under sunny skies on Thursday and a return to highs in the 90s in some Southland communities on Saturday.

“Yesterday we were digging ditches, and today we were supposed to run cables”, he said.

“I was really surprised how well everyone was behaved”, Milledge said.