Evacuations

Bomb threats forced the evacuation of multiple state Capitols on Wednesday. Law enforcement and state officials in Kentucky, Mississippi, Georgia, Connecticut, Montana, and Michigan confirmed having received threats or reports of suspicious activity. None of the threats have been found to be credible at press time, and several of the complexes have reopened following sweeps for explosives.   “Starting 2024 with a bomb threat at the Georgia State Capitol,” Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s Chief Operating Officer in the…

Ventura County firefighters on Saturday were battling a brush fire fueled by Santa Ana winds that has burned about 300 acres and triggered evacuations in the Somis area near Santa Paula.The fire, dubbed South fire, was first reported at about 9:38 a.m. on South Mountain near the 118 and 126 freeways, with initial reports indicating 3 to 4 aces in size. By late morning, Andrew Dowd, public information officer for Ventura County Fire Department, said the wind-driven fire had ballooned to 300 acres. “I don’t have any…

The Rabbit fire, which began Friday afternoon in the community of Lakeview, had burned 7,600 acres with 5% containment as of Saturday afternoon, according to the California Department of Forestry/Riverside County Fire Department. Triple-digit temperatures across the region and difficult topography are proving challenging for crews battling the wildfire, said Tawny Castro, public information officer with the county fire department. Cal Fire crews set a backfire while fighting the Rabbit fire near a…

Multiple wildfires broke out in western Riverside County on Friday afternoon, chewing through thousands of acres and prompting evacuations in parts of Moreno Valley and Beaumont.The largest so far is the Rabbit fire, which was reported at 3:26 p.m. in the community of Lakeview. The fire had scorched 2,815 acres with no containment as of 7:20 p.m., according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection/Riverside County Fire Department.Another blaze, dubbed the Reche fire, was first reported just before 1…

Travelers heading to Los Angeles International Airport experienced heavy delays Friday night when a terminal was evacuated after someone reported a suspicious item.The item was reported around 9:30 p.m. and located near an official Transportation Security Administration checkpoint, prompting airport police to clear Terminal 1. Vehicle traffic was temporarily diverted on both the arrival and departure levels, according to Victoria Spilabotte, a public information officer for the airport. “We’re asking passengers who have…

CJ Smith had just taken a video of his rainy view along the San Clemente coast Wednesday morning when an ominous sound began to rumble. “I heard a noise and felt the building kind of shake a bit,” said Smith, 41. When he looked back outside his oceanfront apartment, the hillside behind a neighboring unit was gone. “A bunch of dirt and everything just went down to the trail” that sits below the bluff, he said. No one was injured in the landslide, but at least four buildings in the 1500 block of Buena Vista — including…

PAJARO, Calif. —  Surging rivers. Sliding rocks. Flooded towns.The 11th atmospheric river storm of the season left a trail of soggy misery in California as it broke decades-old rainfall records and breached levees this week. In the Tulare County city of Porterville, residents on both sides of the Tule River were ordered to evacuate Wednesday morning as levels rose at Lake Success, sending water running over the spillway at Schafer Dam. The runoff “expedited the need for us to get out of the area,” Tulare County Sheriff…

A levee failure on the Pajaro River in Monterey County overnight triggered massive flooding and prompted hundreds of evacuations and dozens of water rescues as the latest atmospheric river storm pummeled large swaths of California.The levee — three miles upstream from the town of Pajaro — breached late Friday night, said Nicholas Pasculli, a Monterey County spokesperson. Patrols noticed boils “bubbling up in the adjacent farmland” at 11 p.m., the first sign that there was a problem.Thirty minutes later, the levee failed,…

Pounding rain prompted major evacuations Monday in Santa Barbara County, including for all of Montecito as well as surrounding communities.Here’s what we know about the latest series of powerful winter storms pounding California.Orders Evacuation orders are in place for all of Montecito, Toro Canyon, Sycamore Canyon and Padaro Lane in Carpinteria. According to the order, residents should “leave now.”A shelter-in-place order is in place for Santa Barbara County areas that were scarred by the Cave and Alisal fires.…

Sacramento —  A powerful winter storm that blasted Northern California with strong winds and heavy rain, knocking out power, toppling trees, including one that killed a toddler, and leading to flooding concerns that triggered evacuations will continue its march through the region Thursday.Scattered showers will linger through the northern swath of the state as the atmospheric river — fed by a plume of subtropical water vapor at the lower and middle levels of the atmosphere — moves east. Forecasters are keeping watch over…