More than 41 million Americans across California, southern Nevada and northwest Arizona are under flood watches on Wednesday amid a rare, high risk for excessive rainfall and flooding. This includes major metros like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, California, San Diego and Las Vegas.

Atmospheric rivers dumped heavy rains on large parts of California, causing floods and mudslides and leaving three dead as of Christmas night, according to local officials.

Early Thursday, heavy downpours flooded streets in Northern California, spawned mudslides in the burn scars from wildfires in Southern California and dumped wet snow across the Sierra Nevada.