Storm Front Passes; Worse One on Way

A wintry storm front of moderate dimensions blew through Los Angeles early this morning, carrying just enough rain to make life difficult for commuters but not enough to take the edge off a really nasty storm front marching right behind it.

Traffic was tangled thanks to accidents on rain-slicked streets, but the drive home tonight shouldn’t be nearly as difficult because the front is expected to head east and the drizzles in its wake to end by mid-afternoon.

By noon today, the storm had dumped .92 inches of rain on the Los Angeles Civic Center.

National Weather Service forecasters predicted partly cloudly skies this afternoon, with the second, stronger front bringing almost two inches of rain, beginning Friday afternoon.

Flood Watches Lifted

Overnight flash-flood watches were lifted today for the fire-ravaged hillside areas of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, where mud slides are likely to occur. But the flood watches were likely to be back on tonight as the second front approaches.

Police reported that an accident at 7th and Mateo streets downtown left one motorist injured this morning. Two RTD buses, a semi-trailer truck and a small pickup collided. The driver of the pickup, Donald Groves of Anaheim, was in stable condition at County-USC Medical Center with a broken leg. No one in the buses was hurt, police said.

Meanwhile, a truck and four autos tangled on the southbound Hollywood Freeway near Broadway, slowing commuter traffic shortly before 9 a.m. No injuries were reported.

The Coast Guard reported rescuing three men from a 50-foot vessel, The Double Eagle, sinking in heavy seas five miles northwest of San Pedro, but their names and conditions were not immediately available.