Heavy rains around the U.S. on Monday prompted first responders in Texas to conduct water rescues and officials in California to issue evacuation warnings due to possible mudslides in parts of Los Angeles County.
In San Antonio, firefighters early Monday morning investigated whether five homeless people had been swept away by rushing water, according to fire department spokesman Woody Woodward. They camped in drainage tunnels next to a highway north of downtown, officials said.
Firefighters searched multiple locations, including drainage tunnels, using a boat Monday morning and again before noon, but found no one.
“No persons have been found, so I cannot confirm if five people were actually swept away,” Woodward said, adding that firefighters had responded to 25 water rescue missions or investigation calls from late Sunday night to 8 a.m. Monday morning, with no injuries reported. reported.
Up to 5 inches of rain has fallen in some parts of the San Antonio area since Sunday evening, according to the National Weather Service. The rainfall also drenched Houston, Dallas and several parts of North and East Texas.
Meanwhile, heavy rains from weekend storms in Southern California flooded streets and highways and toppled trees. Flood warnings were issued for parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, coastal San Diego County and the eastern mountains and deserts.
The Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management has issued an evacuation warning near Topanga Canyon through Tuesday morning due to possible mud or debris flows.
Rain in some parts could total up to 2.5 inches (6.3 centimeters) Monday evening, the National Weather Service office in Los Angeles said.
An avalanche warning is in effect through Tuesday morning for the backcountry in the mountains around the Lake Tahoe area, where more than a foot of snow could fall, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center in Truckee, California. The coming storm is expected to bring up to 8 inches of snow to the lake shores and up to 35 inches with wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour at the highest elevations starting late Monday.
In other parts of the country, such as Arkansas, freezing rain is falling. Forecasters warned that parts of the state could be covered in up to 1.27 inches of ice by Monday evening. That led to an ice storm warning that includes much of Arkansas’ Ozark Mountains and the cities of Fayetteville and Fort Smith. A small portion of northeastern Oklahoma was also warned of an ice storm on Monday, the National Weather Service said.
The ice — combined with winds of up to 20 miles per hour — could lead to power outages, the agency said.
Days of freezing temperatures have caused water problems in several cities in Arkansas and in Memphis, Tennessee, due to broken pipes and equipment.
Three fatal crashes were reported in Missouri Monday morning, as freezing drizzle in some places and freezing rain in others combined to create a thin layer of ice covering much of the state. Captain John Hotz of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said there had been a fatal crash involving a Missouri Department of Transportation truck, but no further details were immediately available. Twenty others were injured in crashes statewide. Most of those involved were cars, trucks and semi-trailers skidding on the ice.
“Just a lot of slide-offs,” said Dallas Thompson, a soldier from the St. Louis area.
Wintery weather continues across the country this week. Potentially strong rainfall was expected to continue throughout Monday in parts of California and Texas, according to the National Weather Service.
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Jim Salter in O’Fallon, Missouri, Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, Jeff Martin in Atlanta, Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada and John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
