Wild video shows tornado touching down near LA damaging multiple buildings – as storm kills five

A wild video shows a tornado touching down near downtown Los Angeles Wednesday after another crazy weather day across California that saw five killed in the Bay Area after a ‘bomb cyclone’ hit that forced a couch to fly through the skies in San Francisco.

The twister touched down in a Los Angeles suburb on Wednesday, ripping pieces of roofing off a line of commercial buildings and sending the debris twisting into the sky and across a city block, injuring one person.

The National Weather Service said it sent teams to assess damage in Montebello and the southern Santa Barbara County city of Carpinteria, where another possible twister hit on Tuesday.

According to preliminary information, it’s ‘very possible’ that the apparent funnel cloud spotted a few miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles was a tornado, said meteorologist Rose Schoenfeld with the weather service.

‘It’s definitely not something that’s common for the region,’ Schoenfeld said.

A wild video shows a tornado touching down near downtown Los Angeles Wednesday after another crazy weather day across California

One person was injured and was taken to a hospital, said Alex Gillman, a city spokesman. He didn’t know the severity of the injury.

At least five structures and a small number of vehicles were damaged, but a full assessment was still underway, Gillman said. Damage spread over more than one city block but the extent of the perimeter was still being determined. Gas and power to the area has been shut off, he said.

The rare and violent weather came amid a strong late-season Pacific storm that brought damaging winds and more rain and snow to saturated California. Two people died Tuesday as the storm raked the San Francisco Bay Area with powerful gusts and downpours.

Schoenfeld said more unstable weather was possible through the afternoon in Southern California.

‘All the ingredients are there for more possible events like the one we saw earlier,’ she said.

The last time the weather service’s Los Angeles office sent out tornado assessment teams was 2016 near Fillmore in Ventura County, where it was determined that a small twister had touched down, Schoenfeld said.

A tornado warning based on radar also was issued Tuesday night for the Point Mugu area west of Malibu. The warning was later canceled and the Ventura County Sheriff´s Office tweeted there was no evidence a tornado touched down.

The storm was tapering off in California from north to south while pushing inland across the Southwest, the Four Corners region and the central and southern Rockies, the National Weather Service said. On Tuesday, some residents of north-central Arizona were told to prepare to evacuate because of rising water levels in rivers and basins.

Two victims have to be extricated after a large eucalyptus tree fell on their pick-up truck

Firefighters and EMT help to fix an overturned big rig truck on the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge

Helena Zappelli surveys the damage to her yard and vehicle after a large tree fell over, Tuesday, March 21, 2023, on Humboldt Street in Santa Rosa

A man takes his dog out with a canoe in flood after levee fails in Manteca of San Joaquin County

The wind and rain mayhem from San Francisco Bay south to Monterey Bay on Tuesday was caused by an extraordinary drop in barometric pressure over the eastern Pacific that meteorologists described as ‘explosive cyclogenesis.’

‘Wow. Even by the standards of what has turned out to be one of our most extraordinary winter seasons in a very long time, yesterday … stands out,’ the Bay Area weather office wrote.

Trees and power lines were blown down. Windows were blown out from two San Francisco high-rises, NBC Bay Area reported. Ferry service was disrupted because conditions were too rough. Three barges got loose and damaged a bridge.

At least five were killed in the region, one dying in a gated community 25 miles east of San Francisco when a tree fell on a moving car.

Another driver was killed after a toppled tree crushed a work van in San Mateo County, while another lost his life after a tree fell on him in Oakland.

Two others were killed in storm-related incidents, according to ABC News.

Another video showed a couch flying through the sky in San Francisco at Main Street and Folsom Street, KRON reported. 

An Amtrak commuter train carrying 55 passengers struck a downed tree and derailed near the East Bay village of Porta Costa. The train remained upright and nobody was injured, Amtrak and fire officials said.

The twister touched down in a Los Angeles suburb of Montebello on Wednesday, ripping pieces of roofing off a line of commercial buildings and sending the debris twisting into the sky and across a city block, injuring one person

Another video showed a couch flying through the sky in San Francisco at Main Street and Folsom Street

Buildings and vehicles are partially submerged after levee fails in Manteca of San Joaquin County as atmospheric river storms hit California

Dolores Street in San Francisco sees a fallen tree

In the Bay Area community of Portola Valley, a man driving a sewer truck was killed when a tree fell onto the vehicle, the California Highway Patrol said. And in the community of Rossmoor, a driver was injured and a passenger died after a large tree fell onto a car, the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said.

In the Monterey Bay region, Santa Cruz County was blasted with gusts up to 80 mph at midday. Along the coastline of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, ocean foam blew across the roadways like large snowflakes.

Wind gusts reached 76 mph in Santa Cruz mountain communities, including Boulder Creek.

Resident Frank Kuhr waited for hours Tuesday afternoon at a downtown supermarket for crews to remove large redwoods that blocked a highway. ‘Trees are down everywhere,’ Kuhr said. ‘The wind has been unbelievable. Branches were flying through the air, and folks could hear trees just falling and cracking.’

‘This one´s a doozy,’ Kuhr said.

The storms impacted the area’s famous Alcatraz Island, causing the site to be closed Wednesday

Multiple fallen trees led to issues for vehicles in the Nob Hill area of San Francisco 

A photograph taken with a drone shows a water filled sinkhole as a storm drain collapsed during last weeks storm at the Coyote Village condo complex in La Habra, East of Los Angeles

The 1.4 inch of rain that fell on downtown Los Angeles broke the March 21 record of 1.34 inches set in 1893.

Some 121,000 customers were without electricity early Wednesday throughout the state, according to PowerOutage.us.

The National Weather Service said Tuesday’s storm, which came on the first full day of spring following the state´s extraordinary winter, was a Pacific low pressure system interacting with California’s 12th atmospheric river since late December.

California’s unexpected siege of wet weather after years of drought also included February blizzards powered by arctic air.

The storms have unleashed flooding and loaded mountains with so much snow that roofs have been crushed and crews have struggled to keep highways clear of avalanches.

Amber Balog surveys the damage to a friend’s vehicle, Tuesday, March 21, 2023, after a saturated and wind-blown limb fell on Monte Verde Drive in Santa Rosa

Damage is visible on the 3rd Street Bridge just outside Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants

The Mammoth Mountain resort in the eastern Sierra Nevada announced that it will remain open for skiing and snowboarding at least through the end of July.

With a season-to-date snowfall of 634 inches at the main lodge, it was likely just one storm away from breaking the all-time record of 668 inches set in the 2010-2011 season.

This weather came after a ‘bomb cyclone’ slammed into San Francisco Tuesday evening in the latest severe storm to hit the West Coast, devastating the region with hurricane-force winds and torrential rainfall. 

The weather front is the latest major storm to hit the region this year, where it unleashed flash floods and blistering wind gusts throughout the Golden State.  

At least one person died after the gusts – which reached upwards of 78mph – caused a tree to fall near Portolla Valley. Meanwhile, more than 230,000 residents across California had their power wiped out in the storm.

Glass from a San Francisco high rise reportedly plummeted to the ground after the storm swept in late afternoon, however no injuries were reported from the incident. 

Severe winds have led to numerous downed trees in the San Francisco area, killing at least one person and injuring two others 

Deep floodwaters have plunged southern California into chaos as it is hit with yet another storm

Evacuation orders were issued Tuesday evening in Santa Cruz County as torrential rains battered the coastal region, just weeks after rapid floodwaters caused havoc in Los Angeles.

Two people were critically wounded in San Francisco after they were struck by a falling tree, which came as at least one person was killed in a similar incident in San Mateo County. 

Detailing the fatal incident, California Highway patrol officer David LaRock told Weather.com: ‘Due to high winds, a large tree fell on the vehicle as it was traveling eastbound. When emergency crews arrived they had to clear several large branches to get to the vehicle.’

Shocking weather images showed a sharp twist in the storm’s trajectory as it made landfall, indicating the potent winds that drove it to the coastline. 

Meteorologist Drew Tuma of ABC7 tweeted that he witnessed the winds drop ‘from 60mph to dead calm in an instant’ after he found himself in the eye of the storm. 

Flights out of San Francisco International Airport were temporarily grounded amid the storms, with roughly 300 flights delayed and over 20 cancelled. 

Other nearby airports including Oakland and San Jose Mineta International Airports also reported some weather-related disruptions. 

Footage from the area shows numerous cars damaged by fallen trees and rising floodwaters sweeping through streets.  

Fast moving waters in Oakland, which saw substantial destruction in recent weeks after an overflowed levee washed out the region, also caused a section of a dock to break loose and drift away with numerous boats. 

And in the Mission Bay region, an industrial barge was dislodged and smashed into a bridge, leading authorities to urge residents to avoid the area. 

Travel chaos has also hit the roads across southern California, and motorists are trapped after downed power lines hit Woodside.  

Residents are being asked to shelter in place due to many of the wires remaining live, and local authorities have said it is unclear when PG&E will recover the broken lines. 

Severe winds cancelled all ferry services on Tuesday afternoon in the Bay area, with officials noting the disruption was due to ‘ocean-like waves’. 

Just weeks after the region was swept away by torrential rainfall, California has been hit by another storm. Pictured: An aerial shot of submerged homes in Manteca, San Joaquin County

Deep floodwaters in San Joaquin County, California, pictured, has caused severe damage just weeks after further storms swept through the state

In San Joaquin County, around two hours south of San Francisco, shocking images have shown deep floodwaters completely submerging streets. 

The region was already hit with an evacuation order after residents were inundated with the rising waters.

San Francisco Fire Department representatives have advised the public to take extra precautions as the storm continues to batter the city. 

‘There’s lots of street closures right now throughout San Francisco, just due to wires down, trees down, flooded areas,’ SFFD spokesperson Jonathan Baxter told SFGATE.

‘Be aware of the severe storm heading through San Francisco’. Baxter added. 

‘If you don’t have to be out, consider other options. If you are going to be out, expect delays throughout your travels.’

A winter storm warning has been placed throughout Wednesday morning for the Greater Lake Tahoe area, where winds could gust up to 75mph.  

Torrential rains battered the state when Pineapple Express made landfall, plunging 21 counties under a state of emergency

Hundreds of residents in Soquel, California were left stranded earlier this month when the ‘Pineapple Express’ storm struck the Santa Cruz Mountains, causing a key road to become washed out by flash floods

The destruction comes just weeks after a devastating storm dubbed ‘Pineapple Express’ brought significant damage to the West Coast. 

Catastrophic floods washed out the state as the storm, which was the third major landfall of the year, placed over 20 counties under a state of emergency. 

Roughly 17 million people in parts of California and Nevada were under flood watches, and the torrential rains saw upwards of an inch fall every hour at some points.  

More than a dozen people died and many more were left stranded in the San Bernardino mountain range as historic amounts of snow hit the Golden State.

Monterey County was the among worst-hit areas in the state as it was pummeled with as much as 13 inches of rain when the storm hit earlier this month.

Rain topped the 10-inch mark in several other regions, including 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.