US cities reel under wildfires, extreme weather

CASTAIC, California — An explosive new wildfire erupted north of Los Angeles on Wednesday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes in areas still reeling from two deadly blazes.

Meanwhile, a rare winter storm, known as Enzo, has swept through the southern US with record-breaking snow and bitterly cold weather in typically mild regions along the Gulf Coast, claiming at least nine lives as of Wednesday morning.

Near Castaic Lake in California, ferocious flames devoured hillsides, spreading rapidly to cover more than 3,800 hectares in just a few hours.

The fire was fanned by strong, dry Santa Ana winds racing through the area, pushing a vast pall of smoke and embers ahead of the fire front.

Evacuations were ordered for 31,000 people around the lake, which sits 56 kilometers north of Los Angeles, and close to the city of Santa Clarita.

"I'm just praying that our house doesn't burn down," one man told broadcaster KTLA as he packed his car.

The Hughes Fire came as the greater Los Angeles area was on edge after two enormous fires tore through US' second-largest metropolis, killing more than two dozen people and wreaking devastation worth billions of dollars.

As California faces a massive rebuild, US President Donald Trump repeated his claim that the state was improperly diverting water away from the site of the emergency, threatening to withhold federal funds as a result.

"I don't think we should give California anything until they let water flow down into their system" from the north of the state, Trump said in an interview on Fox News aired on Wednesday evening.

As residents in Los Angeles fight the flames, people in the south are struggling from the cold and snow.

New Orleans, the biggest city in coastal state of Louisiana, on Tuesday experienced its heaviest snowfall since 1948, with 8 inches falling in a single day, far surpassing the previous record of 2.7 inches, according to a report from on Weather.com on Wednesday.

Several other major cities, including Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida, also reported unprecedented snowfalls.

The icy conditions caused widespread disruption in the US South, grounding more than 1,200 flights at major airports from Texas to Florida as of Wednesday morning.

Nearly 30 interstate highways were forced to close during the storm, which also prompted numerous school districts, government offices, and businesses to shut down. Several southern states have declared a state of emergency.

Nationwide, fatalities included two likely weather-related deaths in Austin, Texas, and at least five in a car crash on icy roads in Zavala County, Texas. The southeastern Georgia State and Wisconsin in the Midwest each reported that one person succumbed to the cold outdoors during the storm, according to a CNN report.

AGENCIES-XINHUA