We begin with that powerful storm system bringing heavy rain from southern California into the desert southwest. It’s complicating the holiday rush on one of the busiest travel days of the year. Twenty-six million people were under flood watch today, with some areas already hit with a month’s worth of rain in twenty-four hours or less. The storm is blamed for at least one death tonight. Torrential rain unleashed a messy mudslide in the Hollywood Hills, and the mountains of Southern California could end up with more than a foot and a half of rain by the time the storm winds down.

This history-making storm left behind quite a mess and it did so with ferocious intensity. This is what happens when so much rain falls so fast. Cars one after another hydroplaning out of control on a major freeway. Farther south, a truck skidded off road plunging into a storm channel. In Santa Bara, the streets became rivers, roads became impassable although one stuck driver managed to push his way out. Since Sunday, the city of Santa Barbara has received nearly seven inches of rainfall, Oxnard just over six but that city got a month’s worth of rain in just sixty minutes deluge.