Heavy California storms force hundreds to evacuate

More than 500 of the homes under evacuation orders were in communities north of Los Angeles, where hillsides are still barren from a massive wildfire that burnt there last summer and saturated from heavy rain that fell on Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday's storm was expected to be the worst so far, with 80 mile-per-hour winds and up to several inches of rainfall.

"With the first two storms (this week) we got lucky," Bill Patzert, a climatologist for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told the Los Angeles Times.

"Monday we got the right jab, Tuesday we got the left jab, Wednesday we could get the haymaker to the chin," Patzert said.

Already, the storms pounding the region this week have flooded intersections in the cities of Long Beach and San Pedro, near Los Angeles, damaging some homes and apartments.

Authorities, who blamed two fatalities on the punishing rains, closed several piers and shut down beachfront access in some areas because of heavy surf.

On Tuesday, the National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for parts of Los Angeles and Orange County, an unusual development for normally sunny Southern California.

Witnesses reported spotting several waterspouts and at least one tornado.

A fourth storm was expected to hit the area on Thursday.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; editing by Todd Eastham)