Sticky ‘Goop’ Was Merely Rain, Alkali

The sticky, multicolored “goop” that fell over thousands of square miles of Southern California Wednesday was merely rain and wind-borne alkali and desert dust, the South Coast Air Quality Management District reported today.

District Deputy Director Jim Birakos said laboratory analysis completed this morning showed that the stuff which fell with the rain, staining car finishes and other surfaces, was not acidic and apparently was harmless to human beings. He said the dust and sticky fallout were mainly a nuisance but may have caused some property damage, principally to automobiles.

He noted that it contained particles of sand, which could scratch painted surfaces when it is wiped off. “We recommend hosing it off,” he said.

‘A Natural Substance’

“When it fell, it made star-burst patterns,” Birakos said. “It was in different colors, orange, yellow, white. . . . It is a natural substance.”

The staining rain fell mainly in San Bernardino, Riverside and parts of Orange County, according to Birakos, although there were scattered reports of the stuff from many other Southland areas.

Birakos said there were reports that “a burst of storms” lifted a huge volume of alkali from the bottom of the dry Owens Lake and carried it aloft. He said that could account for much of the so-called “goop.”

Where there was no appreciable precipitation, the wind whipped up blinding sandstorms, sometimes reducing visibility to as little as three feet. Highway 138 in the Antelope Valley was closed by the sandstorm.

Winds Up to 60

Winds gusted up to 60 m.p.h. Wednesday and early today in parts of the Southland.

One burst of wind tore an 8-by-40-foot section of roof off the Von’s Supermarket in the 600 block of Foothill Boulevard in La Canada-Flintridge at 2:30 a.m. today, breaking water pipes and causing extensive damage to stock.

The National Weather Service predicted winds of 25 to 35 m.p.h. today and tonight, decreasing Friday. No precipitation was forecast, apparently precluding anymore “goop” attacks.