California was hit by another winter storm starting March 20—its 12th since December—adding to more closures and damage for the already water-logged state.
In Southern California, a second sinkhole in the courtyard of the Coyote Village condo complex in La Habra, Orange County, continued to cause concern after soggy ground atop a storm channel covered with grass collapsed in on itself March 15.
A first sinkhole occurred in 2019 along the same patch of greenway, which has still not been fixed due to an ongoing lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court in 2020 by the condo’s homeowners association against the county of Orange, the Orange County Flood Control District, and the city of La Habra.
Also, due to flooding, the California Department of Transportation closed Pacific Coast Highway March 21 in Huntington Beach. It’s unclear when the roads will be reopened since rain is expected to continue through Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, in the City of Los Angeles, the Public Works department has received thousands of requests to fix potholes since December, according to the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Services.
A National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard, Carol Smith, told The Epoch Times there’s currently a flood watch advisory across the Southland. Rainfall may ease up by the end of the day March 22, she said, with the storm heading east.
“We also have a slight chance of thunderstorms across the area, and so with these thunderstorms, we’re seeing some heavy downpours, so that’s a bit of a risk,” she said.
Over the next week, Smith said the weather may start to shift to more spring-like conditions and conclude the bout of storms this season.
Flood watches and advisories were issued in Southern California counties on the morning of March 21, and early reports in Los Angeles indicated that there were cases of roadway flooding and traffic congestion. As forecasters predicted, wind gusts of up to 45 miles per hour materialized throughout the day.
Along with higher-elevation snow, the most recent storm was predicted to bring up to 3 inches more rainfall in Orange County and the Inland Empire, and up to 8 inches in the San Bernardino Mountains, according to the National Weather Service.
Additionally, Orange County’s coastal and inland region remained under a severe wind warning that will be in effect until Tuesday at 10 p.m.
The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services in January predicted damages by the series of storms could be more than $1 billion.
