4th Calif. storm sparks mudslide fears

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. (AP) — Hours of heavy rain fell Thursday on saturated Southern California as the fourth Pacific storm in a week came ashore, triggering dire warnings by authorities that huge mud flows were likely in foothill communities and residents of endangered homes should obey evacuation orders.

Travel snarls mounted as major highways were closed by snow and tornado damage, and strong winds grounded flights at several airports. Another tornado left a trail of damage in a community northwest of Los Angeles.

The siege of storms has led to several deaths statewide and street flooding in urban areas and has turned the region’s often-dry river and creek channels into raging torrents.

Muddy water gushed down hills, but there were no immediate major incidents, and officials appeared concerned the lack of massive debris flows from wildfire burn areas was misleading for residents.

Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Deputy John Tripp bluntly warned at the outset of the storm that significant debris flows were likely and probably would block potential rescue attempts.

“For those people that are still in the homes and are in those areas of threat, it’s very likely we will not be able to reach you,” he said.

By nightfall, the storm’s main rainfall was passing, but forecasts warned of volatile conditions through the night. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the city’s evacuation orders remained in effect.

In the upper reaches of suburban La Canada Flintridge, where mountainsides rise sharply from the backyards of homes, authorities put pink ribbons on the mailboxes of residents who stayed behind so they would know where to search in the event of a catastrophe.

As an overnight lull gave way to more rain at midmorning, public-works crews shoveled mud from yards, driveways and gutters along Ocean View Boulevard in suburban La Canada Flintridge. The neighborhood was otherwise all but deserted, with newspaper and mail deliveries cut off.

The county’s extensive flood-control system was working, but many of the basins designed to catch debris-laden runoff from fire-scarred mountains were full, and evacuations remained necessary, said Gail Farber, the Los Angeles County Public Works director.

The basins are located on streams and other water courses emerging from the mountains to intercept surges of mud, boulders and other debris while allowing water to flow into open channels and underground storm drains that empty into the ocean.

The new storm system shut down Interstate 5 in the snowy Tehachapi Mountains north of Los Angeles for the second day in a row. And the California Highway Patrol closed part of Interstate 80 in the Sierra Nevada after about a dozen cars and trucks crashed in a heavy snowstorm.

Acting Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Francisco and Siskiyou counties because of the statewide storm impacts.

By late afternoon, the storm had added as much as 3.2 inches of rain to the 5 to 6 inches that fell earlier in the week across the fire-charred mountains of Los Angeles County.

Showers today were expected to give way to a dry weekend.

Two people have been killed by falling trees, and police in Newman were searching for the body of a man who tried to drive across a flooded road.

In San Jose, a man died after falling 30 feet from the side of a freeway after he got out of a car that spun out in the rain and then jumped out of the path of an out-of-control car.