SAUSALITO, Calif. — Waves of heavy rain pounded California on Thursday, trapping people in floodwaters, washing away a mountain highway, triggering a mudslide that destroyed homes and forcing residents to flee communities scorched by wildfires last year.
The powerful system swept in from the Pacific Ocean and unleashed damaging rain, snow and wind across the U.S. West into Wyoming and Colorado after walloping Northern California and southern Oregon a day earlier.
The National Weather Service reported staggering rainfall amounts across California, including more than 9.4 inches over 48 hours at one location in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles.
A woman pulled from rising water in a low-lying area between those mountains and LA had a heart attack and died at a hospital, said Capt. Ryan Rolston with the Corona Fire Department.
The unidentified woman was one of nine people and three dogs rescued in a flood control channel where homeless people camp, Rolston said.