A deluge of heavy rains fell upon Southern California Christmas Eve, and the rains are expected to continue through Christmas Day. 

The storm is expected to break rainfall records, according to the New York Times. At a news conference on Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass warned that the rains could be potentially dangerous, and she urged city residents to take the warnings seriously. 

Early Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service reported that rain in some areas was falling at the rate of one inch per hour. 

The weather comes just a few years after multiple news outlets, including the New York Times, reported that the area was in the midst of a “mega drought,” leaving the region the driest it had been in 1,200 years. 

This drought, according to the 2022 Times report, was driven by human-caused global warming and was expected to last for decades. 

The Times’ Wednesday report on the heavy rains made no mention of climate change.