California hit with another storm as state battles flooding and mudslides: Live updates

Wayfarer Chapel, an iconic wedding venue on California’s coast, closed its doors due to landslides in the area.

“Effective immediately, we are extremely devastated to announce the closure of Wayfarers Chapel and its surrounding property due to the accelerated land movement in our local area,” the venue said in a statement on Instagram.

The chapel has launched a GoFundMe to raise money for restoring the venue and surrounding land.

This announcement comes as a series of storms this month triggered hundreds of landslides across California, with one atmospheric river causing 400 in Los Angeles alone.

Santa Barbara Municipal Airport has recovered from its travel issues on Monday.

The airport has cancelled only one flight so far today, according to FlightAware. Meanwhile, 45 per cent of departing flights were cancelled yesterday, alongside 51 per cent of arriving flights.

Those cancellations came amid evacuation warnings in Santa Barbara County due to heavy rain and flooding, some of which are still in effect as of Tuesday afternoon.

A mudslide has caused officials to close a portion of State Route 150 in Ventura County, according to the California Department of Transportation. Officials do not currently have an estimate for when the impacted section will reopen.

From noon to 8 pm local time, there will be a 15 – 35 per cent chance of severe thunderstorms in the Sacramento area, according to the National Weather Service.

These storms could bring high winds, hail and even funnel clouds — however, not all funnel clouds will turn into tornadoes.

A series of thunderstorms rolling through the Bay Area could trigger waterspouts, climate scientist Dr Daniel Swain said on X.

Waterspouts are essentially tornadoes that form over water and are associated with severe thunderstorms, like those blowing through the state of California today.

A line of rain showers is approaching the Bay Area, set to bring thunderstorms, wind gusts and potentially lightning, the National Weather Service said.

The entire Bay Area is currently under a flood watch until Wednesday morning.

Thanks to the torrential downpour, the California soils are over-saturated, leaving them prone to slides.

The storms that have pummeled California both in early February and this week have been caused by what is known as atmospheric rivers.

Here’s a look at the phenomenon:

The entire Bay Area is under a flash flooding alert as of Tuesday morning.

During torrential downpours earlier this month, firefighters responded to a heavy debris flow in the Beverly Crest area of Los Angeles, evacuating seven homes.

That same storm left California’s soil over-saturated, increasing the risk of mudslides this week.

Residents told Mike Bedigan they had “not even remotely had anything like this before”.