Heavy Rains Cause Traffic Accidents, Slides, Flooding

Heavy rains led to a rash of traffic accidents in Southern California today and triggered mud slides and flooding as the sunniest January on record drew near a close.

One woman was killed in an accident in the Los Angeles area, two men died in Orange County and the California Highway Patrol reported scores of minor accidents in Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties, as leaden skies dumped more than an inch of rain on the Southland.

The woman, who was not identified, died when her car skidded off the transition road from the southbound San Diego Freeway to the southbound Harbor Freeway shortly after 7 a.m. today. CHP officer Janet Engler said the car turned over, crushing the driver.

The two men were killed at 8 p.m. Wednesday when the car in which they were traveling hit an embankment and overturned on Ortega Highway, seven miles east of San Clemente, said CHP officer Paul Caldwell. The two men were riding in the trunk of a car carrying 10 people believed to be illegal aliens from Mexico, Caldwell said. Three other passengers were slightly injured.

Rock and Mid Slides

In Malibu, rock and mud slides slowed traffic on Pacific Coast Highway this morning, but the highway remained open, the CHP reported. On the westbound Santa Monica Freeway, one lane was closed by flooding at Maple Avenue, causing a huge traffic jam during the morning rush hour.

Power failures during the night blacked out 2,400 customers in parts of Canoga Park and San Pedro, but none of them lasted long, said Department of Water and Power spokeswoman Darlene Battle.

In Ojai, mud slides from hillsides stripped of vegetation by last summer’s giant fires closed several roads, including California 33, north of the town, pushed one house off its foundation and swamped a vehicle with mud, Ventura County Sheriff’s Lt. Ernie Rogers said.

Lisa Hines of the Ojai Fire Department said the worst hit area was Matilija Canyon, where four to five inches of rain fell Wednesday night and early this morning.

More than two dozen people were evacuated by helicopter from Matilija Canyon when mud and rocks closed the narrow road into the remote canyon and trapped many of the residents. The evacuees were taken to a Red Cross shelter at Nordhoff High School in Ojai.

Rogers said no one was reported injured, but deputies were continuing to survey the situation by helicopter.