Torrential rains and stormy weather caused two deaths in Southern California on Wednesday and triggered a state of emergency and evacuations as the storm continues through Friday. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
Dec. 25 (UPI) — Two have died as stormy weather enveloped Southern California on Wednesday and is expected to continue through Friday, causing a state of emergency and local evacuations.
Torrential rains flooded highways and created debris fields and lots of mud in Southern California spurred Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency.
The state of emergency applies to Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Shasta counties, NBC News reported.
An elderly San Diego man named Roberto Ruiz died on Wednesday after a tree branch fell on him and caused him to suffer a cardiac arrest.
He had gone outside to try to move his car, his daughter-in-law, Zenaida Rodriguez, said.
“This is a father, a grandpa,” she told NBC News, adding that she has a 2-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter.
“How do you go home on Christmas Eve and tell your kids that their grandpa’s dead?” she pondered.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy James Carvallo also died when his vehicle crashed in a weather-related accident while he was driving to work.
More rain is expected through Friday and is disrupting Christmas Day celebrations from San Bernardino County to the east to Southern California’s coast