the sierra nevadas just in time for the ski resorts to open up. allison, thank you. that wet and wild winter is all fwauz of an el nino weather pattern system. some saying it could be a godzilla el nino. crews have been scrambling to clean up some roads hit by some recent storms. we get all the details on this. l.a. county public works crews making sure that every single storm drain is completely clear. they got an ominous look of what el nino could do when a storm came through here just about a week ago. l.a. county called in the heavy equipment to clear roads, bridges. they re fighting water with water to clear huge milk shakes of muck in storm drains. our charge this year is to
also the pattern. because it s been very warm and very moist in a lot of these places, especially very warm pulling up that gulf moisture into parts of the eastern half of the country. but the temperatures have also been warm. 20 degrees above average. however, john, out to the west, it s been very cool out in your neck of the woods. and also a lot of moisture. that s why we ve been seeing a lot of the snow and rein. that s actually been good news. a lot of the ski resorts are going to be opening up in just a few days from now. snow is exactly what they were hoping for. absolute my. a bit of moisture a bit of cold. there you go. good to hear. here in california, there s a new sense of urgency, el nino expected to be a big one. crews are scrambling to clean up roads in some areas which have been slammed by recent storms. more rain is expected courtesy of the el nino weather pattern, which many fear could be extra strong this year. l.a. county public works crews making sure that ever
a damaged drainage pipe which sent a three-foot surge of water into one santa cruz county town. public works crews tried to contain that water, but officials say the situation went from bad to worse quickly. and the rains quickly started to overtake the capacity of the pipe and it started to back up. crews eventually had to evacuate and had to scramble up the side of the cliff, and they left their equipment behind. this is the second flash flood in the santa cruz county town. that area was also flooded thursday. the cherry blossoms are in full bloom in washington, d.c., just in time for the national cherry blossom festival, billed as the nation s greatest springtime celebration, but it kind of feels more like winter with temperatures there in the mid-40s, even a light dusting tc r ntialforecast. you have some splaining to do,
figures you ve gotten on the extent of the devastation in japan, what have you learned? reporter: well, the new figures show that there are still more than 10,000 people reported dead across japan. that number is expected to rise to above 18,000 people before this disaster is over. 16,000 people remain missing and another 240,000 people remain in shelters because of the earthquake, the tsunami and now the nuclear disaster going on in japan. alex. some devastating numbers. all right, charles hadlock, thank you. crews in california are cleaning up after heavy rains and severe flooding. that flooding was also caused by a damaged drainage pipe and that sent a three-foot surge of water into one santa cruz county town. public works crews tried to contain the water but the situation went from bad to worse quickly. and the rains quickly started to overtake the capacity of the pipe and started to back up. crews eventually had to evacuate