Photos: Southern California reeling from days of destructive storms

Following a wave of punishing rains that forced evacuations on the Central Coast and flooded parts of Los Angeles County, Southern California faced another round of storms this week, with much of the region still under flood, high wind and high surf advisories.

Since New Year’s Eve, hundreds of thousands of Californians have lost power as a string of the severe winter storms has provided the latest glimpse into how extreme weather tied to climate change is challenging California’s power grid in unprecedented ways.

Late Thursday, waters from the Salinas River near Chualar breached some levees and flooded nearby farmland, with more flooding expected.

A new round of storms marches into California on Friday, the eighth atmospheric river-fueled event since Christmas Day.

At least 19 people have died in the back-to-back storms.

Farm workers dig out a drainage ditch to keep floodwater from covering strawberry crops as the Salinas River overflows its banks in Monterey County on Friday.

(Noah Berger / Associated Press)

Seen in an aerial view, workers inspect a railway bridge over Hopper Creek, full of storm debris, on Wednesday, near Fillmore.

(David McNew / Getty Images)

Brenda Ortega salvages items from her flooded Merced home on Tuesday.

(Noah Berger / Associated Press)

Two vehicles fell into a sinkhole on Iverson Road in Chatsworth, trapping four people on Tuesday.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Two men use a raft to get back and forth from the roadway to a homeless encampment on Bannon Island, along the Sacramento River.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Cyd Zeigler gets an elevated view of a mudslide on Nichols Canyon Road in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

A lone person walks near driftwood storm debris washed up in front of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk amusement park on Wednesday in Santa Cruz.

(Mario Tama / Getty Images)

Gerardo Medina cleans up water inside Union Station in Los Angeles on Tuesday after torrential rain led to flooding in the pedestrian walkway inside the station’s pedestrian passageway.

(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Commuters are shuttled over a flooded section of the pedestrian walkway leading to train platforms on the main level of Union Station in downtown Los Angeles.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Submerging cars, floodwaters course through a neighborhood in Merced on Tuesday. Following days of rain, Bear Creek overflowed its banks leaving dozens of homes and vehicles surrounded by floodwaters.

(Noah Berger / Associated Press)

Matt O’Brien shovels mud from a friend’s driveway after the San Lorenzo River overflowed in the Felton Grove neighborhood of Felton on Tuesday.

(Nic Coury / Associated Press)

A driver disobeys road closure signs and drives through the flooded Glen Helen Parkway during Tuesday’s storm in Devore.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

San Diego firefighter Brian Sanford rescues a dog from a flooded home in Merced, California, on Weednesday.

(JOSH EDELSON / AFP via Getty Images)

Pauline Torres carries belongings from her flooded Merced home on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023.

(Noah Berger / Associated Press)

San Francisco Department of Public Works workers cut up a tree that fell on a SF MUNI bus on Wednesday after a storm passed through the area.

(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

A boulder crashed on top of a parked car along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu on Tuesday.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Gabriell Lambert cleans her car flooded by muddy water that came down hillside, caused by heavy rain, at 3700 block of North Fredonia Drive in Studio City on Jan. 10.

(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)

Caltrans removes mud and debris washed up along US 101 northbound lane in Ventura, on Jan. 10.

(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)

Bud Tate, 60, left, gives a hand to Anthony Ivancich, 80, jumping over flooded street in heavy rain and mudslide at 3700 block of North Fredonia Drive on in Studio City, CA

(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)

Two Chatsworth residents view the sinkhole that swallowed two cars on Iverson Road south of Zaltana Street, beneath the 118 Freeway in Chatsworth on Jan. 10.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

Montecito Summerland Fire Protection District officials responded to a rockslide where two 500-gallon propane tanks were washed up along the 800 block of Toro Canyon Road in Toro Canyon, Calif., on Tuesday.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Motorists stand on Highway 101 after the Ventura River flooded the highway in Ventura.

(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)

James Claffey walks from his stalled car due to flooding on Highway 101 in Montecito, Calif.

(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)

James Claffey pushes his stalled car Monday from the southbound 101 Freeway in Montecito.

(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)

Snow falls in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. on Jan. 9, 2023.

(Patrick Griley/Mammoth Lakes Tourism via AP)

A car is submerged in floodwater after heavy rain moved through the area Jan. 9 in Windsor, Calif.

(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Powerful storms of rain and high winds wash debris ashore in Santa Cruz.

(Melina Mara/The Washington Post )

A portion of West Cliff Drive fell into the Pacific Ocean after a series of powerful storms of rain and high winds hit California’s Central Coast in Santa Cruz.

(The Washington Post)

Brayan Suarez leaps to avoid getting wet while crossing to the other side as the rain water builds up on the ground at Santee Alley in Los Angeles on Jan. 9.

(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

The Capitola Wharf is damaged following a powerful winter storm in Capitola, Calif.

(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

A support piece from the Capitola Wharf is seen inside the storm-damaged Zelda’s restaurant in Capitola, Calif.

(Shmuel Thaler / Santa Cruz Sentinel)

High surf brought spectators to Manhattan Beach on Friday.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

A vehicle drives through muddy waters on a flooded road in Sebastopol, Calif., in Sonoma County on Thursday.

(Josh Edelson / AFP via Getty Images)

Boone White leaps from his car after a large tree fell on it while he was driving near Capitola, Calif., on Thursday.

(Shmuel Thaler/Associated Press)

Family friends remove items from the mobile home where 2-year-old Aeon Tocchini was killed by a fallen redwood tree in Occidental, west of Santa Rosa, on Wednesday.

(Terry Chea / Associated Press)

Slade Watson, 15, of Hermosa Beach runs as waves come crashing over the breakwall of Redondo Beach Harbor. where kids played in the spray of giant waves following the storm.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Rain clouds shroud the skyline of downtown Los Angeles.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)