Snow and flooding in California - 120,000 people without power

A rare winter storm has brought a lot of snow and rain in the usually sun-drenched US state of California. Blocked roads, floods, freezing temperatures and power outages paralyzed life in parts of the west coast state. More than 120,000 customers in California were without power as of Saturday afternoon (local time), according to poweroutage.us. While it occasionally snows even in the warmer parts of Southern California, a blizzard of this magnitude is unusual.

For the first time in decades, there was also a blizzard warning for parts of the US state. This is what violent snowstorms with severe temperature drops are called in North America. Snow-covered roads and mountains could be seen on TV images.

According to the media, the snow fell meters high in some regions. Some used the winter weather for sleigh rides. Snow has even fallen in unusual places: near the famous "Hollywood" sign, snow or at least sleet is said to have been sighted on Friday, the weather service reported on Twitter.

In other parts of the state, torrential rain caused problems: In the metropolis of San Diego, two people were rescued who were stuck on a flooded street, as reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper. Rescue workers also came to the aid of people in need in other parts of the state – the homeless were particularly affected. According to the media, the storm brought record-breaking amounts of rain and flooding in Los Angeles – there was a flood warning at times.

The West Coast's main north-south freeway, Interstate 5, was partially closed. The Weather Service continued to warn of heavy rain and thunderstorms in parts of Southern California on Saturday. In other regions there was an avalanche warning. The low will move further south over the weekend and then move to the east of the country, it said.