Powerful holiday storm lashes Southern California and threatens mudslides in fire-scarred areas

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A powerful winter storm swept across Southern California on Wednesday, with heavy rain threatening mudslides and debris flows in areas scorched by wildfires, bringing near white-out snow conditions in the mountains and hazardous travel for millions of holiday drivers.

Forecasters said Southern California could see its wettest Christmas in years and warned about flash flooding. Areas scorched by January’s wildfires were under evacuation warnings, and Los Angeles County officials said Tuesday they were going door to door at about 380 especially vulnerable homes, ordering residents to evacuate because of the risk of landslides and debris flows.

Areas along the coast, including Malibu, were under flood warnings Wednesday, local officials said. Parts of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties were also watching for potential flooding. Other parts of Southern California were under wind and flood advisories. Further north, much of the Sacramento Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area were under a flood watch and high wind warning.

Minor roadway flooding and downed trees were reported across the state Wednesday.

Early Wednesday morning, the Los Angeles Fire Department rescued a man trapped in a drainage tunnel in northwest LA that led down to a river.

Firefighters were able to get a ladder down through an opening, allowing the man to climb out, the fire department said. No injuries were reported, but the man is being evaluated.

In Monterey along the central coast, more than 5,000 people lost power Tuesday night due to a damaged power pole, according to Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

Conditions could worsen as multiple atmospheric rivers move across the state during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. The storm in Los Angeles was expected to strengthen into Wednesday afternoon before tapering off later in the evening.

“If you’re planning to be on the roads for the Christmas holidays, please reconsider your plans,” said Ariel Cohen, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Los Angeles.

Forecasters warned that heavy snow and gusts were expected to create “near white-out conditions” Wednesday in parts of the Sierra Nevada and make it “nearly impossible” to travel through the mountain passes.

James Dangerfield, an 84-year-old Altadena resident, said his family and neighbor helped place sandbags in his backyard earlier this week. His neighborhood was under a flash flood warning as of Wednesday morning, but he wasn't too worried.

The street he lives on is on a hill, so most rain water flows away from them, he said. For now, he and his wife, Stephanie, planned on staying in the house and spending Christmas Eve with their two adult daughters and grandchildren.

“We’re just going to stay put and everybody will have to come to us. We’re not going to go anywhere," he said.

Southern California typically gets half an inch to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.5 centimeters) of rain this time of year, but this week many areas could see between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters), National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford said. It could be even more in the mountains. Gusts could reach 60 to 80 mph (97 to 128 kph) in parts of the central coast.

Atmospheric rivers transport moisture from the tropics to northern latitudes in long, narrow bands of water vapor that form over an ocean and flow through the sky.

Officials have taken steps to reduce the risk in and around the burn scars, with Los Angeles County installing K-rails, a type of barrier to help catch sliding debris from burned areas, as well as offering free sandbags to residents.

The storm has already caused damage in Northern California, where flash flooding led to water rescues and at least one death, authorities said.

The state has deployed emergency resources and first responders to several coastal and Southern California counties, and the California National Guard remains on standby.

Miguel Lopez sweeps water from Marlene's Beachcomber on the Santa Monica pier Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Wally Skalij)

Miguel Lopez sweeps water from Marlene's Beachcomber on the Santa Monica pier Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Wally Skalij)

Miguel Lopez sweeps water from Marlene's Beachcomber on the Santa Monica pier Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Wally Skalij)

Miguel Lopez sweeps water from Marlene's Beachcomber on the Santa Monica pier Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Wally Skalij)

A tourist from China battles the rain on the Santa Monica pier Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Wally Skalij)

People look toward traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge from the Golden Gate Overlook in San Francisco, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

A pedestrian carries an umbrella while walking on a path at Alamo Square Park, in San Francisco, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

BRISTOL, Pa. (AP) — Construction crews worked to clear the collapsed walls and roof from a Pennsylvania nursing home Wednesday to help investigators find the cause of an explosion that killed a resident and employee, and set off a dramatic evacuation amid falling debris and shooting flames.

The Tuesday afternoon blast sent 20 others to hospitals, including one person in critical condition. The rest of the employees and 120 residents were accounted for after hours of searching the wreckage, said Police Chief Charles Winik of Bristol Township.

Survivors were transferred to nearby nursing home properties owned by the same company, the police chief and health officials said.

Authorities did not immediately identify the resident and employee who died, but said both were women. They also said they didn't know the cause of the blast at the Bristol Health & Rehab Center, even though a utility crew had been on site investigating a reported gas leak when the blast occurred. It was so powerful that it shook nearby houses for blocks in Bristol, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Philadelphia.

A wing of the facility that housed the kitchen and cafeteria was almost entirely destroyed, with the roof caved in, sections of walls completely missing and windows on adjoining walls blown out. Debris littered the grounds.

Winik said the scale of the casualties could have been much worse. Police and firefighters flooded in from the region, as staff from a hospital next door and neighbors rushed to help evacuate the injured. One person was resuscitated at a hospital, officials said.

Firefighters braved a heavy gas odor, flames, collapsing walls and even a second explosion to rescue people trapped in stairways and elevator shafts and under rubble, authorities said.

“I’ve never seen such heroism,” Winik told reporters Wednesday. “They were running into a building that I could — from 50 feet away — could still smell gas, and walls that looked like they were going to fall down."

Some residents couldn't walk or speak, and some were in wheelchairs, the police chief said.

Nineteen people were still hospitalized Wednesday, Winik said. Federal agencies were assisting in the investigation, which was awaiting crews removing the wreckage.

“Until we excavate the area and remove the walls and roof that collapsed, we won’t have any idea of what may have occurred in there,” Winik said.

The blast at the 174-bed nursing home happened shortly after a utility crew responded to reports of a gas odor at the facility, authorities have said. The local gas utility, PECO, said the crew shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility, but didn’t know if utility equipment or gas was involved in the explosion.

Willie Tye, who lives about a block away, said he was watching a basketball game when he heard a loud boom.

“I thought an airplane or something came and fell on my house,” he said. When he went outside, he saw “fire everywhere” and people fleeing the building.

State records show the facility was cited for multiple violations during its most recent inspection in October by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, including failing to provide accurate floor plans, properly maintain stairways and fire extinguishers on one level. Inspectors also cited the facility for lacking required smoke barrier partitions designed to contain smoke across floors.

Medicare’s overall rating of the facility is listed as “much below average,” with poor ratings for health inspections in particular.

Musuline Watson, who said she was a certified nursing assistant at the facility, told WPVI-TV that staff smelled gas over the weekend, but did not initially suspect a serious problem because there was no heat in that room.

The nursing home recently became affiliated with Ohio-based Saber Healthcare Group, which called the explosion “devastating” and said in a statement that facility personnel promptly reported the gas odor to the local gas utility before the blast.

Levy and Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Associated Press reporters Mingson Lau in Bristol, Pennsylvania; Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire and Michael Casey in Boston contributed to this report.

First responders work the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol, Pa. (Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

First responders work at the scene of an explosion and fire at Bristol Health & Rehab Center, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in Bristol, Pa. (Monica Herndon/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Investigators work around Bristol Health & Rehab Center and surrounding rubble after a gas explosion the day prior on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in Bristol, Pa. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)

Investigators work around Bristol Health & Rehab Center and surrounding rubble after a gas explosion the day prior on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in Bristol, Pa. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)

A responder navigates around Bristol Health & Rehab Center and surrounding rubble after a gas explosion the day prior on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, in Bristol, Pa. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)