A disastrous start of 2025 when it comes to weather continued on Thursday throughout the area, with flooding and mudslides making their presence felt.
According to Weather Underground, the weather station at the Santa Monica Municipal Airport observed 1.64 inches of rain in the city Thursday. This is the largest single-day rainfall in the city since Feb. 5 of last year, when 2.7 inches of rain was recorded as part of a weeklong deluge. The 3-day rainfall total through 4 a.m. Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service, was 2.01 inches at the SMO station.
Caltrans District 7 posted on X Thursday evening that due to a series of mudslides and heavy flooding, a “hard closure” of Pacific Coast Highway between Chautauqua Boulevard and Carbon Beach Terrace will remain in place until further notice. Video provided by KTLA showed emergency workers clearing mud and debris from the highway in the overnight hours.
Along with PCH, mudslides were seen on Topanga Canyon Blvd. in the burn scar area of the Palisades Fire. The route, Caltrans said, will remain closed south of Grand View Dr. “until crews can clear debris and mitigate potential hazards, such as falling rocks and road damage.”
KTLA reporting added that a “significant amount of debris” was seen from the storm around Duke’s, a famous Malibu restaurant that survived the Palisades Fire.
In response to the weather, all Malibu campuses of Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District closed on both Thursday and Friday, citing both weather concerns and the aforementioned road closures for keeping students out of campus.
