A record-setting Christmas storm battering Southern California brought rushing floods that have already killed at least three people.

Water and debris, along with mudslides, have led to evacuation orders and water rescues as the deluge slams regions still recovering from wildfires earlier this year.

Three people have been killed, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared an emergency as of Wednesday, including flash flood warnings and evacuation orders. Road closures reported by the LA County Sheriff have triggered travel delays across the region.

The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department issued evacuation orders for communities up until the Los Angeles county line on Wednesday evening, as the area is slammed with mudslides and rushing water, worsened by the burn scars from earlier wildfires.

Evacuation orders were also issued for the Palisades, Sunset, Hurst, and Ridgewood areas, with the LAPD personally knocking on doors of vulnerable homes.

Officials told The Associated Press that 380 homes were given evacuation orders.

As of Christmas morning, the sky has cleared slightly, allowing for officials to prepare for the next bout of rain expected Thursday afternoon.

“It’s blue skies, no rain, so we’re using this time to reinforce our troops in the area to get ready for the next band of rain we’re expecting this afternoon and into tonight,” San Bernardino County Fire Department Public Information Officer Christopher Prater told The New York Post at around 9:30 a.m. local time.

Prater said no rescues were conducted overnight, but firefighters continue to patrol the San Debrardino area. Crews are continuing to use equipment to try to clear the roads, taking advantage of a break in the storm.

Flash flood warnings urging residents to get to higher ground and not to travel in flood waters have been issued by the National Weather Service for most of Southern California. Warnings were issued for Santa Barbara, Malibu and Topanga.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department rescued a 50-year-old man, alone with his cat and his dog, from the hood of a car in the Sunland-Tujunga neighborhood, and issued an evacuation order for the area on Wednesday evening.

The record-setting storm began on Christmas Eve and is predicted to dump many months’ worth of rain over just a few days, according to Tom Kines, Senior Meteorologist at Accuweather.

“The good news is once we get past tomorrow, the rain will definitely ease up out there, and there will be a stretch of sunnier and dry weather for several days,” Kines said.

A San Diego man was killed Wednesday morning after a tree fell on him, the third death linked to the storm pummeling Southern California over the holiday, the San Diego Police Department confirmed.

The man, who was 64, was in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego when he was hit by the tree around 10:55 a.m.

Local television news outlets showed the massive 75-foot tree collapsed on the sidewalk at 3805 Marlborough Ave. Family told NBC 7 San Diego that the man was named Roberto Ruiz, and that he had just stepped out of their home to move his car when part of the tree toppled and crushed him.

Ruiz’s death was the third fatality linked to the Pineapple Express storm that has brought debris flows, downpours and evacuations to the Southland.

On Sunday, a person died in rising waters as flooding overwhelmed parts of Redding, according to city officials. Police officers tried to save the person, who was inside a vehicle as the waters rose around them, but they did not make it out in time.

On Monday, a woman in her 70s was knocked off a rock and killed by a large wave during a fierce storm at a beach at MacKerricher State Park, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.

A powerful winter storm swept across California on Wednesday, with heavy rain and gusty winds leading to evacuation warnings for mudslides in parts of the southern part of the state, bringing near white-out snow conditions in the mountains and hazardous travel for millions of holiday drivers.

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, declared a state of emergency in several counties, including Los Angeles.

“With atmospheric rivers, intense rainfall, and strong winds ahead, I’m declaring a state of emergency in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Shasta counties to activate emergency authorities and preposition resources to keep our communities safe,” Newsom said in a post on X.

Forecasters said southern California could see its wettest Christmas in years and warned about flash flooding. Areas scorched by January’s wildfires were under evacuation warnings, and Los Angeles county officials said on Tuesday they were going door to door to about 380 especially vulnerable homes, ordering residents to evacuate because of the risk of landslides and debris flows.

The San Bernardino county sheriff’s department also issued an evacuation warning on Wednesday morning for the community of Wrightwood, a mountain resort town in the San Gabriel Mountains about 80 miles (130km) north-east of Los Angeles, due to potential mud and debris flows from the storm.

Debris and mud flow was seen rushing down the road leading into Wrightwood in a social media video posted by county fire officials. Crews were working to evacuate some homes, the post said. County officials didn’t immediately return questions about the evacuation.

Areas along the coast, including Malibu, were under flood warnings on Wednesday, local officials said. Parts of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties were also preparing for potential flooding. Other parts of southern California were under wind and flood advisories. Farther north, much of the Sacramento valley and the San Francisco Bay Area were under a flood watch and high wind warning.

Early on Wednesday morning, the Los Angeles fire department rescued a man trapped in a drainage tunnel in north-west LA that led to a river.

Firefighters were able to get a ladder down through an opening, allowing the man to climb out, the fire department said. No injuries were reported, but the man is being evaluated.

In Monterey along the central coast, more than 5,000 people lost power on Tuesday night due to a damaged power pole, according to Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

The San Francisco and Los Angeles airports reported some minor flight delays on Wednesday morning.

Conditions could worsen as multiple atmospheric rivers move across the state during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. The storm in Los Angeles was expected to strengthen into Wednesday afternoon before tapering off later in the evening.

James Dangerfield, an 84-year-old Altadena resident, said his family and neighbor helped place sandbags in his back yard earlier this week. His neighborhood was under a flash flood warning as of Wednesday morning, but he wasn’t too worried.

The street he lives on is on a hill, so most rainwater flows away from his home, he said. For now, he and his wife, Stephanie, planned on staying in the house and spending Christmas Eve with their two adult daughters and grandchildren.

“We’re just going to stay put and everybody will have to come to us. We’re not going to go anywhere,” he said.

Southern California typically gets half an inch to an inch (1.3-2.5cm) of rain this time of year, but this week many areas could see 4-8in (10-20cm), National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford said. It could be even more in the mountains. Gusts could reach 60-80mph (97-128km/h) in parts of the central coast.

Forecasters also warned that heavy snow and gusts were expected to create “near white-out conditions” in parts of the Sierra Nevada and make it “nearly impossible” to travel through the mountain passes. As of Wednesday morning, there was also a “considerable” avalanche risk around Lake Tahoe, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center, a non-profit partnering with the US Forest Service.

The National Weather Service said a winter storm warning would be in effect for the greater Tahoe region until Friday morning.

Atmospheric rivers transport moisture from the tropics to northern latitudes in long, narrow bands of water vapor that form over an ocean and flow through the sky.

Officials have taken steps to reduce the risk in and around burn scars, with Los Angeles county installing K-rails, a type of barrier to help catch sliding debris from burned areas, as well as offering free sandbags to residents.

The storm has already caused damage in northern California, where flash flooding led to water rescues and at least one death, authorities said.

The state has deployed emergency resources and first responders to several coastal and southern California counties, and the California national guard remains on standby.