Dramatic images show devastation from onslaught of atmospheric rivers slamming California

The series of storms began their barrage on the Golden State just after Christmas and have brought renewed punches of heavy rain and damaging winds on a near-daily basis.

A series of atmospheric rivers have left wide swaths of damage across California, claiming the lives of at least 18 people and leaving homes inundated with floodwaters and highways covered in mud and rocks.

The series of storms began their barrage on the Golden State just after Christmas and have brought renewed punches of heavy rain and damaging winds on a near-daily basis.  

These images capture the scale of damage and deadly destruction from these powerful storms as they swept across California.

One of the most powerful storms, a bomb cyclone, tapped into tropical moisture near Hawaii to bring several inches of rain across Northern and Central California. San Francisco set its second-wettest day on record on New Year's Eve. Two people died in that storm.

On Monday, another massive storm slammed the Santa Cruz area with pounding surf, causing damage to waterfront buildings and piers as torrential rain inland sent the San Lorenzo river rapidly rising to major flood stage and inundating nearby towns.

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The storm eventually turned its attention to Southern California, where 12 to 15 inches of rain fell in the mountains, sending rivers of water and mud through popular Los Angeles-area suburbs. Officials ordered the evacuation of the entire celebrity enclave of Montecito, home to such Hollywood royalty as Oprah Winfrey and Jennifer Aniston, as flash flooding threatened.

Wind gusts during the storms have reached 60 mph at times in the San Francisco Bay Area and over 70 mph in the Sacramento area, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands.

The storms are giving a brief break to the state on Thursday, but more atmospheric rivers loom over the weekend – and again next week. 

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But there are some signs Californians could get a few days to dry out with a pattern change toward the end of next week. 

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