Don’t rain on my Oscars parade! Clean up crews brace for MORE torrential rain in LA that could turn this year’s champagne carpet into a quagmire for celebs
- Crews at the 95th Academy Awards struggled on Sunday to clean up water leaking from the ceiling of the Dolby Theater
- Large swaths of California were seeing scattered storms, after already receiving up to 13 inches of rain in some areas
- Meteorologists warn another major storm will hit on Monday night
Crews at the 95th Academy Awards struggled on Sunday to clean up water leaking from the ceiling at the Dolby Theater before celebrities arrived on the new champagne-colored carpet after weeks of devastating storms.
Water could be seen Sunday afternoon dripping down through the red drapes that serve as the ceiling for the glitzy event and onto the carpet where actors, directors and producers will soon pose for photos.
Members of the Academy’s drip control team tried to alleviate the puddles forming on the red drapes with giant poles, ABC 7 reports, before placing buckets to catch the drip. Fortunately, the champagne carpet was covered ahead of the event.
But scattered storms may continue through 8pm, when the star-studded event begins after parts of California already received up to 13 inches of rain, leaving roads flooded and two people dead.
It is now expected to see even more wild weather in the coming days, with flood and high wind watches in effect for the entire San Francisco Bay Area and Central Coast beginning Monday night and lasting through Wednesday. Another storm will then likely follow in its wake.
The no-longer red carpet was flooded ahead of the 95th annual Academy Awards
People are seen here carrying umbrellas along the Hollywood Walk of Fame as a worker made final preparations for the Oscars
Ongoing storms have caused major flooding throughout California. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is seen here on Saturday drenched in floodwaters
Scattered storms continued on Sunday, and are expected to worsen Monday night
Rain and snow pounded large portions of California on Friday in the 10th atmospheric river storm of the winter, forcing highway closures across the state, and one of its major dams to open its spillway for the first time in nearly four years.
More than 9,000 California residents were under evacuation orders, California Office of Emergency Services Director Nancy Ward confirmed.
She also stated that two other deaths from previous weeks were confirmed to be caused by this disastrous weather, bringing the confirmed death toll from the weeks of persistent storms to 16.
More than 50 others had to be rescued by first responders and the California National Guard in recent days.
Monterey County was the worst-hit area in the state as it was pummeled with as much as 13 inches of rain on Friday.
Rain topped the 10-inch mark in Santa Cruz County, where a creek bloated by rain destroyed a portion of Main Street in Soquel – a town of 10,000 people – isolating several neighborhoods.
Crews were working to remove trees and other debris and find a way for people to cross the creek, county officials said.
There were also flash floods in Kernville, another foothill town in Kern County. Officials said there were no injuries reported or calls for rescue by Friday afternoon but that the river, known to locals as ‘Killer Kern,’ continued to rise.
The flood was captured in a stunning video that showed it overtaking homes, as officials warned people in Springville that they were facing ‘catastrophic life threatening’ floods.
Evacuations were ordered in nearby Watsonville where creek water spilled over and filled roadways with several feet of water, threatening dozens of homes with flooding. At one home, chickens inside a backyard coop perched on a bar near the roof to avoid the water.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Rain started to fall on Friday as preparations were getting underway for the Academy Awards
STRATHMORE, CALIFORNIA: Parts of Northern California received over a foot of rain on Friday. A flooded farm is seen here
KERNILLE, CALIFORNIA: Playground equipment was submerged in the overflowing Kern River on Friday
In central California, the Tule River overflowed its banks and flooded several homes. Videos posted on social media showed a handful of homes and cars under a few feet of water and at least one road washed out by the rushing river in Springville, a Tulare County town of about 1,000 people in the foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada.
Evacuation orders were ordered for other areas of the county, including parts of the small community of Cutler because of a levee break and areas of Exeter because a creek overflowed its banks.
Floodwaters that got into the region’s wells may be contaminated with chemicals, and officials urged residents not to cook or drink with tap water, CBS News reports.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, flooding blocked portions of several major highways, including Interstate 580 in Oakland, disrupting travel.
And in Fresno County, first responders had to rescue three women — two of whom were in their 80s while the third was 104 years old. All of the victims were trapped in their homes amid the ravaging storms.
Eventually, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom declared emergencies in 34 counties in recent weeks, and the Biden administration approved a presidential disaster declaration for some on Friday morning, triggering federal assistance to state ‘tribal and local response efforts’ caused by ongoing ‘severe weather storms, flooding landslides and mudslides.’
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A student with an umbrella is seen here walking through the storm on Friday
SPRINGVILLE, CALIFORNIA: Vehicles were left submerged in the flood waters on Saturday as the storm started to subside
STRATHMORE, CALIFORNIA: Residents were ordered to evacuate in Northern California after a river nearby overflowed
POTTERVILLE, CALIFORNIA: In an aerial view, people look at the flood waters of Deer Creek on Friday
The rains started to subside on Saturday but continued with scattered storms around the Los Angeles area on Sunday.
It is expected to get worse Monday night, when another round of severe weather moves in from an atmospheric river, known as a ‘Pineapple Express’ because it brings warm subtropical moisture across the Pacific from near Hawaii.
That storm could bring even more snow in the already inundated higher-elevated mountains, and more flooding at lower elevations.
‘We will see additional rounds of both rain and heavy mountain snow redevelop across much of Northern and Central California as we go through the week,’ National Weather Service meteorologist David Lawrence said.
‘And we’re also likely to see this weather pattern continuing as we go into at last the first half of next week.’
One to three inches of rain is forecast for the coastal areas and valleys, KTLA reports, while mountain and foothill communities may see three to six inches.
A flood warning, meanwhile, has been issued for the entire San Francisco Bay Area and Central Coast that goes into effect Monday night and will last through Wednesday morning.
And a high wind watch will be in effect for the entire region, with wind speeds of 25 to 45mph, though gusts could reach up to 50mph in the valleys and up to 70mph at the coast and elevations over 1,000 feet.
There will then be a short break in the wild weather from Wednesday evening until Friday morning, when another storm system is expected to move in.
National Weather Service officials are also warning that ‘considerable flooding’ could occur, especially in the lower elevations.
The California Transportation Department is now warning drivers to be ‘prepared for delays and carry extra food, water, blankets and other essentials, and pack cellphone chargers’ as roads may be closed due to the widespread flooding.
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