El Nino arrives in the West with heavy rain

Based on the conditions observed in the past few months, rainfall totals this year are expected to rival those from the record El Nino year of 1997-98, when 31.01 inches of rain fell in Los Angeles.

The National Weather Service issued flash-flood watches for many California communities ahead of the storm.

A resident used sandbags to protect a home in Glendora, California, in anticipation of flooding.

Northern California could receive up to 15in (38.1cm) of rain over the next 16 days, with parts of the Sierra Nevada mountains getting up to 24in of snow.

That’s at least partially thanks to El Niño, a climate pattern of warmer-than-average sea water in the tropical Pacific Ocean that affects weather around the world.

The latest in a succession of El Nino storms rolled through the Bay Area early Tuesday, triggering a flood advisory for the heavily traveled I-80 corridor between San Francisco and Sacramento and creating chaos for the morning commute in the Bay Area.

In recent weeks, the system has generated unusual weather across the United States with unseasonably high temperatures in the northeast, uncommon winter tornados in the south, and a deluge of snow across the west.

“A parade of strong Pacific storms characteristic of a strong El Niño event will batter the state this week and will likely bring damaging flooding by the time the second storm in the series rolls through on Wednesday”.

Communities across California are bracing for two weeks of heavy rains generated by the El Nino system.

Muni spokesman Paul Rose says the agency stopped service on the cable vehicle lines Wednesday as a precaution and will restore service when the rain eases.

El Nino’s effects on California’s drought are hard to predict, but Patzert said it should bring at least some relief.

Californians used 20 per cent less water this past November than they did in November 2013, before Gov. Jerry Brown declared the state’s water emergency, the Water Resources Control Board announced Tuesday.

In a report from NBC Los Angeles, there was a voluntary evacuation recommended throughout the Silverado Canyon area of Orange County because of potential mudslides that may result from the El Niño rains.

Los Angeles County residents were cautioned to stay out of the water at area beaches due to discharging storm drains known to send bacteria, debris, trash and other hazards from city streets into the ocean. Efforts are under way to shelter homeless people. Between three and two -and-a-half inches of rain are anticipated in southern California through Friday.

Concrete barriers are set against flood debris in Glendora, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016.

El Niño has finally arrived with storms hitting Southern California on Monday morning flooding highways and soaking hillsides. Southern California is bracing for a series of storms expected to begin late Sunday that could last all week.

The weather service also said the Solimar and Springs Fire burn areas should be monitored, and Ventura County officials feared if thunderstorms moved over the two locations, rainfall rates could exceed the debris thresholds.