El Niño Disintegrates California Highway
Two large stretches of a Northern California highway disintegrated and gave way Monday night as El Niño-powered rainstorms lashed the area.

Two large stretches of a Northern California highway disintegrated and gave way Monday night as El Niño-powered rainstorms lashed the area.

The Pacific El Niño is back with a vengeance — and with it, the hope that California can climb out of its devastating, four-year-long drought.

With this year’s strong El Niño tending to skirt California and drenching the Pacific Northwest, Los Angeles County just went all-in to revive a controversial cloud seeding program to squeeze out every last drop of precipitation from late season rain showers.

California had been hoping that by this time of year, rains from a record-strength Pacific El Niño would bolster state water supplies and help it recover from a devastating, four-year-long drought.

LOS ANGELES — California’s water conservation rate slid sharply in January, with the state failing to meet Gov. Jerry Brown’s mandatory 25 percent reduction order as the strong Pacific El Niño failed to deliver the rain necessary to provide a path out of devastating drought.

Some cities in Southern California saw daily temperature records broken this week as an unusual heat wave interrupted what has been an El Niño-fueled rainy, cold winter in the region.

Powerful rainstorms brought on by the record Pacific El Niño have succeeded in filling up California’s largest reservoirs, including Folsom Lake, but it may not be enough to pull the state out of what is quickly shaping up to be a fifth year of devastating drought.

On Wednesday, two gray whales played in the waves just off the Mission Beach coastline–and one photographer has the pictures to prove it.

California water officials extended the state’s mandatory conservation rules for an additional nine months on Tuesday, as residents fell behind in meeting water savings targets for a third consecutive month.

The head of the U.S. Agency for International Development has announced $97 million dollars in emergency assistance to Ethiopia to combat the devastating effects of a drought brought on by the El Niño climate phenomenon.

Residents of a Pacifica, California apartment building teetering on the edge of a cliff do not want to move out, even though their homes could fall into the ocean at any moment.

Almond growers in California worry that the recent drop in almond prices may be a harbinger of things to come.

Heavy El Niño rain, which catalyzes the growth of poisonous mushrooms, has caused the death of pets that consumed the deadly plant.

Hailstones measuring three inches in diameter fell near the city of Red Bluff in northern California on Saturday, tying a record for the largest-sized hail to hit anywhere in the state in more than 50 years.

An apartment building in Pacifica, California is in danger of toppling into the ocean as El Niño-fueled waves batter and erode the cliff underneath it.

Drenching storms brought on by the Pacific El Niño have succeeded in dramatically raising water levels at some of California’s largest reservoirs.

The Pacific El Niño has battered California with much-needed rainstorms, leading to record rainfall in some areas–but state farmers are unlikely to see any water deliveries from federal agencies for a third straight year.

One brave sports car owner in San Diego wasn’t going to let torrential rain and massive flooding caused by El Niño get in the way of a midday drive.

A second day of powerful storms unleashed by El Niño brought flooding, power outages and heavy snowfall to drought-ravaged California.

Powerful rain storms brought on by El Niño battered California on Tuesday, causing headache-inducing road closures; mud and debris flows; flooding; and the opening of a half-dozen temporary shelters for the state’s homeless.

Like rail freight cars slowly moving down a track at increasing speed, California is about to suffer a “storm train” this week that may increase rainfall by over 400 percent over last year. The El Niño phenomenon is expected to

The El Niño killing machine that slaughtered 41 across the South in violent storms this week is just warming up for a crescendo of death, destruction, and misery that is expected to arrive over the next three months.

Business is booming at Southern California ski resorts following disappointing snow seasons over the last few years.

The forecasts were right: New York is officially warmer than Los Angeles on Christmas Day, thanks to El Niño.

House Republicans from California lashed out at Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on Friday for blocking drought legislation language from a larger government funding spending bill.

An abnormally large number of desert locusts are expected to hatch beginning in January in Yemen, threatening to eat through a chunk of an already dangerously depleted food supply. Most Yemenis rely on humanitarian aid for food and water following a year of civil war and the rise of jihadist violence in the Middle East’s poorest nation.

California water officials introduced a tentative plan Tuesday to keep more water in Shasta Lake over the upcoming year in order to protect endangered winter-run Chinook salmon. However, the proposal is likely to infuriate farmers who may see water allocation drop, while marine scientists are skeptical the plan will be enough to save the imperiled fish.

As California suffers through a fourth year of record drought, one city in the Golden State has a unique problem: too much water.

Unusually high tides known as “king tides” struck parts of California on Tuesday, causing flooding in some areas and raising the possibility of dangerous rip currents along the coast.

California has adapted well to mandatory water conservation rules ordered into effect earlier this year by Gov. Jerry Brown–and water officials now say that some of those rules may be implemented permanently.

On Sunday afternoon a tornado ripped through a small town in California’s Central Valley, damaging buildings and essential power and gas lines.

Despite El Niño generating three times the amount of snow in Mammoth in the first half of this month as it did for the entire month of November last year, California’s failure to build infrastructure means most rain will be lost to run-off and flooding.

It’s on its way! A “Godzilla” El Niño could devastate Los Angeles. City leaders are warning residents to be prepared.

SAN DIEGO, CA — Torrential rainfall and flooding struck San Diego amidst thunder and lightning on Tuesday night leaving cars stranded and thousands without power. Several cars were left stuck and some floating in floodwaters off highway 94 on Federal Blvd.,

California has failed to upgrade its flood control dams to prepare for the type of El Niño killing machine that cost the lives of up to eight Texans this weekend due to record thunderstorms, flooding and 50 mile-per-hour prevailing winds.

Four water suppliers in California, including the city of Beverly Hills, have failed to chip in to statewide water conservation efforts and have been fined as a result.

Flooding, tornadoes, and severe damaging winds have hit the central and southeast portions of the Lone Star state. Two are dead and others are missing after being caught up in rushing flood waters. Tornadoes have touched down in three central Texas cities causing damage. Flash flood watch and flood advisory warnings have been issued for east central and eastern regions.

While California prepares nervously for the coming El Niño, a host of unwanted consequences from the expected rainstorms could prove troublesome for the drought-ravaged state–mudslides, flash floods and now, a threat to the state’s unsheltered homeless population.

Wealthy celebrity homeowners in Malibu will pay $31 million over the next ten years to truck in extra sand for their beachfront properties.

With the Federal Emergency Management Agency urging all Californians to buy low-cost federally subsidized flood insurance in anticipation of the most powerful El Niño condition in history, residents should buy immediately.
