A powerful March storm has been lashing the West Coast with heavy rainfall, gusty winds and snowfall in the mountains –– shifting southward and posing a particular threat to communities scorched by the deadly Los Angeles wildfires from the start of the year.

California braced for the arrival of a massive storm on Wednesday, evacuating residents in areas at risk of mudslides and debris flows.

A powerful storm is dropping drenching rain on flood-prone Southern California and heavy snow on the state’s mountains. It’s the first act of a storm that will unleash a severe thunderstorm outbreak,