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Storm Derails Commuters, Floods Roadways

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Times Staff Writers

Southern California commuters found it slow going this morning as a strong Pacific storm swept through the region, flooding streets and freeway lanes, disrupting rail service and apparently leading to the death of one man. Commuters should face better weather conditions this evening as forecasters expected the rain to diminish to showers across most of the region, but isolated thunderstorms were possible. There was a 40% chance of rain through Thursday.

And the rail commuters who faced major problems this morning after Metrolink halted service on its San Bernardino and Riverside lines due to heavy flooding should be in better shape.

A combination of rail and bus service will resume this afternoon on both lines, said Metrolink spokeswoman Sharon Gavin. Two trains on the Orange County lines were canceled for this afternoon. Updated information is available on the Metrolink website: www.metrolinktrains.com.

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Near Tujunga, rescue workers this afternoon found a body in a wash downstream from a partially submerged pickup truck used by a security guard reported missing from the nearby Wildlife Waystation, according to a Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman. The body had not been identified, but officials said they were assuming it was the missing guard from the animal refuge in Angeles National Forest.

Large rocks and mudslides closed major mountain roads in numerous locations after some were hit with a deluge: 8.6 inches of rain fell in Crystal Lake above Azusa in a 24-hour period.

“That’s just amazing,” said Stanton Florea, a spokesman for Angeles National Forest, northeast of Los Angeles. “We’ve had some pretty significant mudslides in the areas that have burned over the last few years.”

“This system is almost through but the atmosphere … will remain quite unstable,” said National Weather Service spokesman Bill Hoffer.

On Southland freeways, there were no major road closures but enough minor flooding and other rain-related problems to tangle the morning commute for many drivers. The California Highway Patrol had reports of nearly 300 traffic collisions - compared to less than 50 during the same time period last week - on the greater Los Angeles area freeways between 12 a.m. and 7:30 a.m.

“We have an influx of emergency calls,” said CHP spokesman John Seumanutafa.

His straightforward advice to motorists: “Slow down.”

In Orange County, motorists were stranded for hours as the interchange where four highways converge was closed during the morning commute because of flooding. The artery where the Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa and the Orange freeways connect collected more than four feet of water, CHP officials said. All the freeways were reopened by 12:30, seven hours after the first closures began.

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Storm rain totals as of 6 this morning ranged from 1.18 inches in Burbank to 2.12 inches in Claremont and 1.80 inches in downtown Los Angeles. About 2 inches of rain were reported at John Wayne Airport in Orange County.

The mountain regions were also hit with heavy rain. Rain totals, which included storm activity over the weekend, included 6.05 inches at Mt. Wilson; 8.2 inches at Mt. Baldy; and a whopping 11.69 inches at Opus Camp, near Mt. Wilson, according to the National Weather Service.

“This is a rather impressive event,” Hoffer said of the storm.

Because of the rain, the National Forest Service “knocked our fire danger all the way from extreme down to moderate,” said Florea, the Angeles National Forest spokesman.

Angeles National Forest reopened at 6 this morning, but restrictions on campfires and smoking remained in effect.

Most of the 680,000-acre forest had been closed since Sept. 27 because of fire danger. But in the last five days, as much as 2 inches of rain have fallen, and more is predicted through Friday, with snow at higher elevations.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which is responsible for about 32 million acres, said it will end the fire season for the northern half of the state on Monday - more than two weeks ahead of schedule and the earliest since 1989. The department still is evaluating the southern half of the state.

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Now the threat shifts to mudslides, with areas near recent fires and immediately below steep slopes at greatest risk, Florea said.

“Mudslides are not as glamorous as fires, but they are every bit as dangerous, maybe even more so,” Florea said, citing the deaths of several people last winter in mudslides.

Forest workers also will monitor the quality of water flowing to Los Angeles County residents.

Some isolated homes near Santa Clarita were pinched off in the storm, and bulldozers were sent in overnight to clear a path, Florea said.

The forest highway is closed near Aliso Canyon because of mudslide danger. Also closed was Angeles Crest Highway from Sheep Creek Road to Lone Pine Road.

Flood watches were in place in burned areas in mountains and valleys from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Authorities were most concerned about those areas scorched by last year’s fires. By late Tuesday night, runoff from a burned hillside in Santa Clarita had flooded the entrance to a mobile home park, creating a river about 5 feet deep and 30 feet across and stranding residents of about 100 homes, authorities said.

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In San Bernardino County, officials activated the county’s new telephone emergency notification system for the first time, warning residents in select areas about flood danger. Rescue units and swift water teams were on standby at fire stations throughout the county.

The storm had closed roads at nearly 20 sites from Chino across the county to Redlands and Highland, but there were no injuries or evacuations, San Bernardino County spokesman David Wert said this morning.

“A lot of these will reopen as soon as the rain stops and the water recedes,” he said, adding that the effects of the rain were “pretty light, considering what we were expecting.”

Partly cloudy and cool conditions are forecast for the weekend but another storm system might arrive early next week, Hoffer said.

Times staff writer Jason Felch and Times wire services contributed to this story.

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