Wet West Aftermath: California Communities Buried in Mud

Photo Courtesy - ABC News(LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.) -- Southern California residents will get a break Thursday from the wet weather that inundated the region with a year's worth of rain in just one week.

The series of storms that has pounded the area since last week has triggered mudslides, flooding and swift water rescues, and prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a state of emergency for six counties.  But as the rain subsides and heads east, the clean-up begins for areas hit the hardest by the strongest part of Wednesday's storm.

In Laguna Beach, a wall of water four feet high poured through downtown, bringing with it a tide of mud.  The heavy water has made driving nearly impossible near the Pacific coast, with puddles the size of lakes forcing road closures.

On Wednesday morning, a mudslide devastated the town of Highland, near the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains.  Most of the residents' cars are now buried in mud, and more than 20 homes were destroyed in an instant.

Elsewhere, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works lifted evacuation orders Wednesday night for La Canada Flintridge and La Cresenta.  Earlier, officials Tuesday went door to door telling more than 200 homeowners in the area that it was not safe to remain there.

Forecasters say the storm is now moving east.  Arizona, Utah, and Nevada are under a flash flood watch with an additional three to six inches of rain possible from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

Copyright 2010 ABC News Radio

California Braces for More Rain, Possible Mudslides

Photo Courtesy - ABC News/Google Earth/NOAA(LOS ANGELES) -- From the mountains to the foothills, California residents are bracing for another round of heavy rain and threats of mudslides. For the past week, residents faced relentless rainfall along with snow and high winds.

In the northern part of the state, the storm knocked out power to thousands of customers, according to local utility companies. Southern California has been hit hard by heavy rains since the weekend, creating scores of accidents and forcing residents to prepare to evacuate.

The Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu has been blocked with mudslides and rocks.

Los Angeles can expect three-to-six more inches of rain through Wednesday.

Over the weekend in Anaheim, Disneyland received about four inches of rain and Hollywood received more than five inches of rain -- the most since the 1920s. Lake Tahoe reported nearly nine feet of snow.

While California was pounded with rain, there were pileups in Spokane, Washington, as one car after another skidded helplessly into the snow mess on Monday. Las Vegas and southern Utah are expected to receive another one to two inches of rain on Tuesday.

Forecasters say the storm is moving east, bringing a white Christmas to places like Fargo, North Dakota and much of Minnesota.

Copyright 2010 ABC News Radio

Will You Have a White Christmas?

Photo Courtesy - WTVD-TV Raleigh-Durham, N.C.(WASHINGTON) -- If Accuweather.com's holiday forecast comes true, millions of Americans won't be just dreaming of a white Christmas, they'll be living it.

"I feel from the plains eastward, more people than normal will have a white Christmas," said senior meteorologist Joe Bastardi, Accuweather's chief long-range forecaster.

Weathermen -- and bookies -- are even betting that England, which has had unusually early cold and snowy weather already this year, will have a winter wonderland on Christmas Day.

"As it stands, this year we've got the shortest prices we've ever had, the most number of bets we've ever had," said Rupert Adams of William Hill, a British sports betting website. "It's literally a wild kingdom at the moment. Over 10,000 bets on whether it will be a white Christmas in the U.K."

At the beginning of December, Bastardi said he was predicting snowstorms that would dump snow on the eastern half of the United States later in the month. He predicted temperatures would remain cold enough to keep the while stuff around until Christmas. Sounds eerily familiar to when an enormous blizzard, dubbed "Snomageddon," dumped several feet of snow on the Northeast last year.

Typically, a quarter to a third of the United States is blanketed with white over the Christmas holiday, but Bastardi is predicting about half of the country will see snow on this year's holiday.

Copyright 2010 ABC News Radio

Winter Storm System Pounds the West Coast

Photo Courtesy - ABC News/KABC-TV Los Angeles(LOS ANGELES) -- California and surrounding areas are being hit with a major storm that the National Weather Service describes as one of the worst systems to hit The Golden State in a decade.

Parts of southern California could see as much as a foot of rain before the storm moves out. Barriers and sandbags have been assembled to help guide water and sliding mud.

At higher elevations, the snow is falling fast. Fifteen feet of snow is forecast for the Sierra Nevada.

The heavy moisture is expected to last through the middle of the week, with a series of storms following a single path across the state.

Slick roads are making for a dangerous drive. The California Highway Patrol says they have had five times the typical number of accidents -- at least 264 -- in Los Angeles County alone.

Copyright 2010 ABC News Radio

West Coast Braces for Heavy Rain, Snow

Photo Courtesy - ABC News/KABC-TV Los Angeles(LOS ANGELES) -- The west coast is getting hit with the first of what is predicted to be a series of strong storms over the next four to five days. California is forecast to get heavy rains and strong winds, with significant snow totals in parts.

Mudslides are of concern in the Los Angeles area where K-rail concrete barriers have been assembled in parts to defend homes from the flow of water. Areas east and west of the city are expecting a foot or more of rain.

Snow could reach up to 10 feet in parts of the Sierra, while it's expected to total nearly a half-foot around Tahoe, an area which could see 15 inches by the middle of next week.

Copyright 2010 ABC News Radio

Stadium's Roof Deflates Under Pressure from Winter Storm

Photo Courtesy - Getty Images(MINNEAPOLIS) -- Harsh weather has collapsed the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The panels of the Metrodome roof started giving way around 5 a.m. and deflated after the storm, which dumped more than 17 inches of snow on the city, Chairman of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission Roy Terwilliger told ABC News affiliate KSTP in Minneapolis - St. Paul.

A Sunday NFL football game between the New York Giants and the Minnesota Vikings had already been pushed to Monday, as the Giants were stranded in Kansas City, unable to reach Minneapolis after the Twin Cities' airport was closed. The game will be played in Detroit on Monday.

Terwilliger says this has only happened three other times in the Metrodome's history, the last being on April 14, 1983. Workers were being kept out of the Metrodome for safety reasons Sunday morning, but crews were back on top of it late Sunday morning clearing snow.

Copyright 2010 ABC News Radio

Monster Storm Blankets Midwest, Creates Travel Chaos

Photo Courtesy - ABC News(MINNEAPOLIS) -- A wallop of a snowstorm tore through the Midwest with up to two feet of snow and winds up to 50 miles per hour. The storm has affected 1500 miles from the Plains to the Great Lakes and the Midwest all the way to the Gulf.

It created travel chaos. Three airports were forced to close and roads were forced to shut down in five states. More than 17 inches of snow was measured at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, making this the area’s fifth biggest storm on record and the greatest snow total since 1991. Nasty conditions were to blame for at least 76 accidents. More than 300 cars slid off the road. The 4.2-million-square-foot Mall of America closed early on Saturday.

In Wisconsin, near-whiteout conditions prompted authorities to put out a no-travel advisory.

The Metrodome suffered structural damage Sunday morning as a result of the storm, hours before the Minnesota Vikings were originally scheduled to host the New York Giants. Officials on Saturday postponed the game until Monday. The Giants were stranded in Kansas City overnight Saturday when their charter plane couldn’t land in the snowy Twin Cities.

Roy Terwilliger of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission tells ABC News Minneapolis-St. Paul affiliate KSTP that the facility has encountered similar problems only three times before, the last time in 1983.

Copyright 2010 ABC News Radio

Wintery Weather Batters Midwest, Great Lakes

Photo Courtesy - KSTP-TV Minneapolis(MINNEAPOLIS) -- A major, triple-threat storm is expected to bring heavy snow, rain and strong winds to the Midwest and Great Lakes this weekend.

Six states are under blizzard watches or blizzard warnings. Winter storm warnings extend through ten states from North Dakota east to Ohio.

Snow is expected to total nearly a foot or more near downtown Minneapolis, through the area of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Behind the snow comes the cold. Wakeup temperatures Sunday near Bismarck, N.D., could be near 20-below. Wind-chill could make it feel like 30- to 35-below.

The cold will then head east and south to Florida, where temperatures in Orlando are expected to be below freezing by Tuesday morning.

Copyright 2010 ABC News Radio

Winter-Like Weather Grips Much of the Nation

Photo Courtesy - WTVD-TV Raleigh-Durham, N.C.(NEW YORK) -- Much of the nation is feeling a touch of winter, leaving parts of the Midwest blanketed with snow before autumn has officially ended.

A fierce winter storm plowed through at least 12 states, spreading snow, sleet and slush from the Dakotas to as far south as North Carolina.

The storm created havoc with the nation’s air traffic control. More than 300 flights were canceled at Chicago’s O’Hare airport.

Winter is still days away, but even the southeast is feeling the effects of this winter blast, with Raleigh and Asheville, N.C., getting several inches.

At least a foot of snow has fallen in Minneapolis, while parts of the Ohio Valley have seen up to nine inches. Chicago clocked in at five inches.

A deep freeze is settling in across the entire half of the country as a cold front dips down from Canada, bringing with it temperatures 20 degrees below normal from the Mississippi, east.

Copyright 2010 ABC News Radio

Storms Dump Snow, Rain in Parts of Western US

Photo Courtesy - ABC News/KOMO-TV Seattle(SEATTLE) -- Parts of the west are getting slammed by powerful, winter like storms.

Up to two feet of snow fell in parts of Washington. There was heavy rain and mountain snow from California into Utah and Montana. Higher elevations could get five feet of snow.

“Saturday and Sunday night could be some of our heaviest,” said Brian O’Hara of the National Weather Service.

Another storm is moving into Washington and Oregon bringing more snow, rain and high winds.

Winter warnings and watches have been posted in 11 western states.

Copyright 2010 ABC News Radio