NAACP Image Awards Red Carpet Scrapped Due to Los Angeles Weather

There will be no red carpet at Friday night’s NAACP Image Awards dinner and program in Downtown Los Angeles due to a powerful winter storm that is pummeling parts of Southern California, bringing with it heavy rain and flash flooding. Saturday night’s main event in Pasadena is scheduled to go on as planned.

Friday’s invite-only (and non-televised) awards dinner will go on as scheduled from L.A. Live Event Deck, a popular event venue located near Crypto.com Arena and the L.A. Convention Center, just without the celebratory step-and-repeat and the crush of photographers and press.

Los Angeles County is currently under a flash flood warning that remains in effect until 10 p.m. According to reports, one to three inches of rain have already fallen with another two to five inches possible in the affected area, including Burbank, Griffith Park, Universal City, North Hollywood, Pasadena, Hollywood, DTLA, Van Nuys, Beverly Hills, Alhambra, Encino, Northridge, Santa Clarita, Chatsworth, Woodland Hills, Whittier, West Covina, Glendora and San Dimas.

The extreme weather has also delivered heavy snow and a rare blizzard warning in parts of Southern California including L.A. and Ventura counties. The last blizzard warning issues by the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles office came on Feb. 4, 1989.

The news comes as Hollywood prepares for a busy events weekend. The NAACP has been hosting a series of Image Awards events leading up to Saturday night’s televised celebration hosted by Queen Latifah. Saturday night also brings the Producers Guild Awards and Sunday will see the SAG Awards. Other big events this weekend include the Academy’s SciTech Awards, W magazine’s Best Performances issue party at Chateau Marmont, the Hollywood Critics Association Creative Arts and Film Awards and the 70th Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Awards at Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

The NAACP Image Awards red carpet cancellation was first reported by Variety.