California is clearing up after days of torrential storms and flash floods, although more rain is forecast there and in neighboring western US states.
Blue skies returned to the Golden state after nearly a week of severe weather which forced the evacuation of more than 2,000 people from their homes.
The five-day storm dumped 7.96 inches of rain on Los Angeles -- more than half the record rainfall for a whole year of 15 inches -- in the worst deluge to hit southern California since the winter of 2004-2005.
Thursday and Friday were forecast to be relatively clear in Los Angeles, but more rain is expected from Saturday -- Christmas Day --- according to Andrew Rorke of the National Weather Service.
As the storm moved east, the weather forecasting service maintained flood warnings for southern California, and issued flood and avalanche warnings for parts of neighboring Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
The week's storms left residential mountainous areas under mud while authorities scrambled to save lives at risk. Some public transportation and even funeral services were suspended due to flooding fears.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in half a dozen southern California counties because of the storms.
Around 400 people and 20 stores were evacuated in coastal San Juan Capistrano after a hillside collapsed, while in farm-rich central California 2,000 people were ordered out of their homes in Kern county.
Los Angeles saw days of record rainfall, while storms sparked power outages across Southern California, mud and rock slides in the area's scenic foothills, and even forced the closure of parts of the famed Pacific Coast Highway.
The one bright spot was had by the region's winter resorts, where record amounts of snow created a skiers' paradise just in time for the Christmas holiday season.
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