In this image released by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, a large eucalyptus tree toppled onto carport damaging vehicles in Goleta, Calif., Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. A powerful Pacific storm blew into southern and central California on Friday, unleashing wind-driven heavy rains that forecasters said could become the strongest in years if not decades. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP)
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In this image released by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, a large eucalyptus tree toppled onto carport damaging vehicles in Goleta, Calif., Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. A powerful Pacific storm blew into
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Photo: Mike Eliason, AP
Umbrellas were put to use as a group of students walk to the Sacramento Convention Center to attend the YMCA Model Legislature & Court, Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Sacramento, Calif. Storms continued to batter California as the saturated state faces another round of wet weather that could trigger flooding.
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Umbrellas were put to use as a group of students walk to the Sacramento Convention Center to attend the YMCA Model Legislature & Court, Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Sacramento, Calif. Storms continued to batter
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Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, AP
Two women share an umbrella walking in the rain Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Sausalito, Calif. A powerful storm is beginning to move into California as the saturated state faces a new round of wet weather that could trigger flooding and debris flows around the northern region.
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Two women share an umbrella walking in the rain Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Sausalito, Calif. A powerful storm is beginning to move into California as the saturated state faces a new round of wet weather that
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Photo: Eric Risberg, AP
Storm debris covers a waterfront walkway Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Sausalito, Calif. A powerful storm is beginning to move into California as the saturated state faces a new round of wet weather that could trigger flooding and debris flows around the northern region.
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Storm debris covers a waterfront walkway Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Sausalito, Calif. A powerful storm is beginning to move into California as the saturated state faces a new round of wet weather that could
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Photo: Eric Risberg, AP
Waves crash against a pier Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Seal Beach, Calif. A major Pacific storm has unleashed downpours and fierce gusts on Southern California, triggering flash flood warnings and other problems.
Waves crash against a pier Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Seal Beach, Calif. A major Pacific storm has unleashed downpours and fierce gusts on Southern California, triggering flash flood warnings and other problems.
Photo: Jae C. Hong, AP
In this Friday, Feb. 17, 2017 satellite image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows a powerful storm beginning to move into California as the saturated state faces a new round of wet weather that could trigger flooding and debris flows around the northern region. The brunt of the storm is expected to affect Southern California starting around midday Friday and into Saturday. Forecasters say rain will also spread into Central California and up to the San Francisco Bay Area. But the National Weather Service says only scattered light showers are occurring in the region north of Sacramento, where the damaged Oroville Dam continues to release water in advance of new storms. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via AP)
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In this Friday, Feb. 17, 2017 satellite image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows a powerful storm beginning to move into California as the saturated state faces a new
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Photo: Uncredited, AP
Storm clouds form over the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles, Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. Wet weather has returned to California with the first in a new series of rainstorms moving across the northern half of the state while the south awaits a tempest that forecasters say could be the strongest in years if not decades.
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Storm clouds form over the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles, Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. Wet weather has returned to California with the first in a new series of rainstorms moving across the northern half of the
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Photo: Richard Vogel, AP
Several fallen eucalyptus trees block Castroville Blvd., Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, near Moss Landing, Calif. A powerful storm is beginning to move into California as the saturated state faces a new round of wet weather that could trigger flooding and debris flows around the northern region. (Vern Fisher/The Monterey County Herald via AP)
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Several fallen eucalyptus trees block Castroville Blvd., Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, near Moss Landing, Calif. A powerful storm is beginning to move into California as the saturated state faces a new round of wet
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Photo: Vern Fisher, AP
In this Feb. 17, 2017 satellite image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Satellite and Information Service's GOES-West, shows a powerful storm beginning to move into California as the saturated state faces a new round of wet weather that could trigger flooding and debris flows around the northern region. The brunt of the storm is expected to affect Southern California starting around midday Friday and into Saturday. Forecasters say rain will also spread into Central California and up to the San Francisco Bay Area. But the National Weather Service says only scattered light showers are occurring in the region north of Sacramento, where the damaged Oroville Dam continues to release water in advance of new storms. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via AP)
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In this Feb. 17, 2017 satellite image released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Satellite and Information Service's GOES-West, shows a powerful storm beginning to move into
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Photo: Uncredited, AP
With charred foliage seen in the foreground, Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies patrol a road lined with K-rail and other barriers in Duarte, Calif., in a threatened area below a burn area known as the Fish Fire, as a powerful storm moves into Southern California, Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. The saturated state faces a new round of wet weather that could trigger flooding and debris flows.
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With charred foliage seen in the foreground, Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies patrol a road lined with K-rail and other barriers in Duarte, Calif., in a threatened area below a burn area known as the Fish
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Photo: Reed Saxon, AP
A semi-tractor lies on its side after it was was blown over by strong winds while traveling northbound along Highway 1, Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Marina, Calif. A powerful storm is beginning to move into California as the saturated state faces a new round of wet weather that could trigger flooding and debris flows around the northern region. (Vern Fisher/The Monterey County Herald via AP)
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A semi-tractor lies on its side after it was was blown over by strong winds while traveling northbound along Highway 1, Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Marina, Calif. A powerful storm is beginning to move into
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Photo: Vern Fisher, AP
Mud from earlier storms is seen in a wash above Melcanyon Road in Duarte, Calif., in a threatened area below a San Gabriel Mountains burn area known as the Fish Fire, as a powerful storm moves into Southern California Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. The saturated state faces a new round of wet weather that could trigger flooding and debris flows.
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Mud from earlier storms is seen in a wash above Melcanyon Road in Duarte, Calif., in a threatened area below a San Gabriel Mountains burn area known as the Fish Fire, as a powerful storm moves into Southern
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Photo: Reed Saxon, AP
A woman struggles to hang onto her umbrella in the wind Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Sausalito, Calif. A powerful storm is beginning to move into California as the saturated state faces a new round of wet weather that could trigger flooding and debris flows around the northern region.
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A woman struggles to hang onto her umbrella in the wind Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Sausalito, Calif. A powerful storm is beginning to move into California as the saturated state faces a new round of wet weather
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Photo: Eric Risberg, AP
K-rail, sand bags and other barriers are set up to block the flow of mud in a wash above Melcanyon Road in Duarte, Calif., in a threatened area below a San Gabriel Mountains burn area known as the Fish Fire, as a powerful storm moves into Southern California Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. The saturated state faces a new round of wet weather that could trigger flooding and debris flows.
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K-rail, sand bags and other barriers are set up to block the flow of mud in a wash above Melcanyon Road in Duarte, Calif., in a threatened area below a San Gabriel Mountains burn area known as the Fish Fire, as
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Photo: Reed Saxon, AP
A man records high waves with his smartphone while standing on a sand berm Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Seal Beach, Calif. A powerful Pacific storm blew into southern and central California on Friday, unleashing wind-driven heavy rains.
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A man records high waves with his smartphone while standing on a sand berm Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Seal Beach, Calif. A powerful Pacific storm blew into southern and central California on Friday, unleashing
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Photo: Jae C. Hong, AP
The Los Angeles County Fire Department patrols Melcanyon Road, lined with K-rails and other barriers in Duarte, Calif., in a threatened area below a San Gabriel Mountains burn area known as the Fish Fire, as a powerful storm moves into Southern California Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. The saturated state faces a new round of wet weather that could trigger flooding and debris flows.
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The Los Angeles County Fire Department patrols Melcanyon Road, lined with K-rails and other barriers in Duarte, Calif., in a threatened area below a San Gabriel Mountains burn area known as the Fish Fire, as a
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Photo: Reed Saxon, AP
A woman braves the strong winds as she walks up a sand berm Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Seal Beach, Calif. A major Pacific storm has unleashed downpours and fierce gusts on Southern California, triggering flash flood warnings and other problems.
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A woman braves the strong winds as she walks up a sand berm Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, in Seal Beach, Calif. A major Pacific storm has unleashed downpours and fierce gusts on Southern California, triggering flash
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Photo: Jae C. Hong, AP
1 dead, others stranded as storm lashes California
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A powerful Pacific storm blew into Southern and Central California on Friday with wind-driven heavy rains that downed power lines and electrocuted a man, stranded others in flooded areas and disrupted hundreds of flights at airports.
With the storm feeding on an atmospheric river of moisture stretching far out into the Pacific, precautionary evacuations of homes in some neighborhoods were requested due to the potential for mudslides and debris flows.
More than 300 arriving and departing flights were delayed or canceled at Los Angeles International Airport.
In the Sherman Oaks area of Los Angeles, a falling tree downed power lines and hit a car. A 55-year-old man was electrocuted and pronounced dead at a hospital, police and fire officials said.
Winds gusting to 60 mph or more lashed the area. Heavy rains turned creeks and rivers into brown torrents and released slews of mud from hillsides burned barren by wildfires. Several stretches of freeways and highways were closed by flooding.
"It's crazy," said Robin Johnson, an academic adviser at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "It's just pouring down rain. The wind is just going nuts."
"At one point the wind was so strong I'm surprised it didn't blow my windows out," retiree Phoenix Hocking said in a Facebook message from Carpinteria. "I now have a pond in my patio. And my dog is starting to grow flippers so he can go out and do his business."
In San Bernardino County, a 20-mile stretch of State Route 138 in the West Cajon Valley was closed at the scene of a summer wildfire.
Mud sloshed over concrete rail barriers and about two dozen vehicles, including big-rigs and a school bus, were either mired in mud or became unable to turn around on the closed road and some were abandoned, county fire spokesman Eric Sherwin said.
In LA's Sun Valley, 10 cars were trapped in swift-moving water on a roadway and eight people had to be rescued, the Fire Department reported.
Two people in a car were rescued and four students on the bus were removed and taken to a school office, he said.
Another road in the area was covered with 2 feet of mud.
Using ropes and inflatable boats, firefighters rescued seven people and two dogs from the Sepulveda basin, a recreation and flood-control area along the Los Angeles River. One person was taken to a hospital with a non-life threatening injury.
The storm took aim at Southern California but also spread precipitation north into the San Joaquin Valley and up to San Francisco. It was not expected to bring significant rain in the far north where damage to spillways of the Lake Oroville dam forced evacuation of 188,000 people last weekend.
The National Weather Service said it could end up being the strongest storm to hit Southern California since January 1995.
Rain and wind wiped out play in golf's Genesis Open at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, where a eucalyptus tree cracked.
Hundreds of trees and dozens of power lines had toppled in the Los Angeles area and at one point more than 60,000 city power customers were without electricity.
A 75-foot tree fell onto an apartment building near the University of California, Los Angeles, narrowly missing someone who was in bed, fire officials said. Four of the six apartments have been declared unsafe to enter, prompting the evacuation of 16 college students.
"I was just sitting in bed trying to enjoy a Friday morning of no class," one resident told KCAL-TV. "I had a giant, like, thunder popping sound and then next thing I knew a branch was coming through the ceiling."
Her leg was scratched by debris and "I was covered in sawdust," she said.
Her thought now was, "Where am I going to live?"
Another tree smashed a carport and vehicles in the Santa Barbara suburb of Goleta.
Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in Orange County closed because the weather. High surf pounded beaches.
By evening, Ventura County and northern Los Angeles County had seen 24-hour rain totals of up to 7 ½ inches, with the San Marcos mountain pass in Santa Barbara County receiving nearly 8 ½ inches.
Farther south, downtown Los Angeles had received about 1 ½ inches of rain while some areas saw up to 4 inches.
The storm system was moving "very slowly" eastward and Los Angeles County was expected to see more rain through Saturday, said Joe Sirard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
The city of Duarte, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains east of Los Angeles, ordered evacuation of 180 homes below a burn scar. Up the coast, evacuations were urged for parts of Camarillo Springs in Ventura County and around an 11½-square-mile burn scar west of Santa Barbara.
Santa Anita Park near Pasadena canceled all its horse races Friday.
In Northern California, officials monitoring the stricken Oroville Dam on the Feather River said they were confident the reservoir would handle any runoff from expected storms because ongoing releases have been lowering the lake's level since its spillways were damaged last week.
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AP writers Mike Balsamo, Robert Jablon and Doug Ferguson contributed to this report.