Scattered storms, lightning hit Southern California and prompt beach closures Thursday night after a powerful storm rolled in off the Central Valley
This article is more than 3 years old
This article is more than 3 years old
Hailstorms, downpours and lightning struck Southern California, prompting the evacuation of thousands of homes and shuttering beaches for a day after a powerful storm rolled over the Central Valley, prompting a warning from the National Weather Service of hazardous conditions.
A powerful line of thunderstorms rolled over Southern California in the early afternoon, bringing with it heavy rains, winds and hail, prompting some of the heaviest rainfall in the series of storms to hit the state in weeks. The storms came after a series of powerful storms rolled in over the Central Valley on Wednesday that caused flooding and knocked out power to thousands in the region.
The storms were the fourth to strike California in six days, after a line of severe storms rolled into Southern California on Wednesday afternoon that prompted the evacuation of thousands on the island of Kauai. The storms brought heavy rain, strong winds, and lightning.
The strong storms rolled into Southern California from the far Pacific Ocean on Wednesday afternoon, and at least two people were killed as a result of the storms and flooding. Officials said the storms set off “multiple” wildfires in Northern California, including the largest fire in state history, which grew to more than 1,000 acres by Thursday night.
But the storms had less of an impact on Southern California than they had a week ago. The latest storms brought heavy rain to the region on Thursday afternoon, but there were no problems reported on the local level.
In Los Angeles, at least eight of the city’s 23,000 water customers reported getting shut off by their power company, which blamed the storms for the outages, according to the city’s utility service department.
The heaviest rainfall and lightning strike occurred in La Puente, a city on the city of San Diego’s southern border, which saw more than
