Storm-ravaged California scrambles as fresh atmospheric river rolls in

California is facing a new round of brutal storms that will bring torrential downpours and gale force winds in the north as the state scrambles to clean up and repair widespread damage amid a break in the weather.

Meanwhile, southern California will see a break in rains until the weekend, when more wet weather is forecast.

Crews worked to reopen major highways that were closed by rockslides, swamped by flooding or smothered with mud. More than 10,000 people who were ordered out of seaside towns on the central coast were allowed to return home.

They included Montecito, a wealthy Santa Barbara county community that is home to Prince Harry, Meghan, Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities, where 23 people died and more than 100 homes were destroyed in a mudslide five years ago.

In the Rancho Oso area of the Santa Ynez Mountains above Santa Barbara, mud and debris across the roadway isolated about 400 people and 70 horses, the Santa Barbara county fire department said on Twitter, posting a photo of a vehicle stuck in the mud.

While some emergency orders were lifted, thousands of people living near rain-swollen creeks and rivers remained under evacuation. In the San Joaquin Valley, raging waters from Bear Creek flooded parts of the city of Merced and neighboring Planada, a small agricultural community along a highway leading to Yosemite national park. Neighborhoods were under water with cars submerged up to their roofs, and all 4,000 residents of Planada were ordered to leave Tuesday morning.

Other evacuations were ordered because of levee breaches in parts of Monterey county.

The storms brought unprecedented amounts of rain coupled with furious winds and even hail and lightning that knocked down trees and damaged electrical lines in many areas. More than 52,000 homes and businesses remained without power as of early Wednesday, according to data from Poweroutage.us.

Further south, mudslides damaged some homes in pricey Los Angeles hillside areas, while further up the coast a sinkhole damaged 15 homes in the rural Santa Barbara county community of Orcutt.

The growing frequency and intensity of such storms, interspersed with extreme heat and dry spells, are symptoms of the climate crisis, experts say. Though the rain and snow will help replenish reservoirs and aquifers, a mere two weeks of precipitation will not solve two decades of drought.