LOS ANGELES, Feb. 19 -- Powerful thunderstorms hammered already saturated Southern California on Saturday with soaking rain and hail, flooding roads and homes, knocking out power and raising the threat of mudslides.
La Conchita, the coastal hamlet where 10 people were killed by a huge landslide last month, was abandoned after the U.S. Geological Survey warned that none of the approximately 150 remaining homes could be considered safe.
Homeowners are counting on huge sheets of plastic to prevent soil erosion around their hillside houses in Los Angeles as heavy rains inundate the area.
(Phil Mccarten -- AP)
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In a year of record rainfall, the latest storms had soaked downtown Los Angeles with about 2 inches of rain since Thursday.
The area has seen nearly three times the average rainfall this season, and periodic showers are expected for several more days throughout the state.
"All of California's going to get a shot of rain in the next couple of days, but most of it will be from Santa Barbara south," said Steve Anderson, a National Weather Service meteorologist. "That's the bull's-eye for the next two days."
The storm knocked out power to thousands of customers in the area, according to Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
The Red Cross opened an emergency shelter in Long Beach, where residents had to evacuate seven homes because of flooding, spokeswoman Margaret Madonna said.
Amtrak canceled Los Angeles-to-Santa Barbara commuter rail service from Friday night through Sunday afternoon because of mudslides in Moorpark.
Mudslides also threatened homes in Culver City, in Los Angeles County, and in the Orange County cities of Mission Viejo and Anaheim, authorities said.
The weekend storm was expected to dump as much as two feet of snow at higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada.
