Mudslides, flash floods wreak havoc in Southern California

A flash flood in Southern California.
(Image credit: Twitter.com/LATimes)

Nearly 40 miles of Interstate 5 in Southern California had to be shut down Thursday after torrential rains caused mudslides and flash floods across northern Los Angeles County.

Meteorologist Joe Sirard with the National Weather Service said Southern California is experiencing unusually high humidity, which combined with a low-pressure system and moisture in the atmosphere from high ocean temperatures, caused a warm, humid air mass to linger over the region. "These storms were moving very slowly and dumping tremendous amounts of rain," he told the Times. "Very unusual factors have played a role in the flooding today — lots of humidity and just the right amount of instability in the atmosphere."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.