Storm-battered California told to brace for more rain

The record rain pounding California since Sunday has begun to ease, but officials have warned that mudslides and flooding remain a threat.

Rain is still expected through Tuesday evening with the "slight risk of excessive rainfall" in some areas, the National Weather Service said.

Over 150,000 people are without power as of Tuesday morning and at least three have been killed by the storm.

A state of emergency has been declared in eight California counties.

Showers and thunderstorms will continue to linger in Southern California on Tuesday, the National Weather Service (NSW) said.

This includes in Los Angeles, where 4.1in (10.4cm) of rainfall on Sunday in the city's downtown shattered the previous record set nearly a century ago.

Pictures out of LA show cars trapped in mud, streets blanketed by water and homes covered in debris, revealing the damage caused by the storm.

Los Angeles officials have so far tallied over 300 mudslides and dozens of damaged structures.

The city rushed in additional resources on Monday, including search-and-rescue crews and helicopter pilots, adding to the 1,000 firefighters already on duty, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

On Monday, President Joe Biden called Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass offering federal assistance to the city.

In the wealthy Beverly Hills neighbourhood, resident Jeb Johenning stood amid cars half buried in muck and debris as he told Reuters "an avalanche of mud" cascaded down the slope near his home.

"I was driving up here last night, right after the Grammys, and coincidentally, my neighbour, who was in this SUV behind us, was being dropped off at his house, and the driver's coming down the hill, and the mud is chasing the driver," Mr Johenning told the news agency.

The powerful storm is due to an "atmospheric river" effect, a phenomenon in which water evaporates into the air and is carried along by the wind, forming long currents that flow in the sky like rivers flow on land.

This slow-moving storm is the second atmospheric river to hit California in two weeks.

In a Monday briefing, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said the storm had undergone bombogenesis as it approached the state, meaning that colder air mixed with warmer sea air, leading to a swift drop in atmospheric pressure, creating a so-called "bomb cyclone".

Hundreds of miles north of Los Angeles, the NWS issued a coastal flood advisory for San Francisco County lasting through to Saturday.

Though rain has largely ended for the area, the weather agency cautioned residents to avoid the beach, warning of "large waves that can sweep across beaches without warning and pull people into the water".

The NWS also warned San Francisco County residents of continued flooding in lots, parks and roads.

The city of San Francisco, one of the hilliest cities in the world, has been plagued by muddy landslides since the storm's arrival.

Wind gusts up to 75mph (121 km/h) on Sunday toppled trees and utility lines across the Bay Area and California's Central Coast, stripping power from over 800,000 homes at the storm's peak.

Evacuation orders are in effect for several neighbourhoods.

Three deaths have been caused by falling trees, including one in Sacramento Valley, and another when a tree toppled onto a home in Santa Cruz County, near San Francisco, officials said.

An elderly man died in Yuba City in Northern California when a redwood tree fell in his backyard.

The San Diego region, where 1in to 2in of rain are forecast, is also under a flood watch on Tuesday, the NWS said.

Roads were closed in the area on Monday, which received up to 2in of rain in some parts, causing mudslides and runoff-submerged roadways.