New Storm May Bring Slides, Flash Flooding

Southern California escaped with only minor problems as a moderately heavy rainstorm swept away to the east Thursday, but forecasters warned that a “vigorous” new frontal system on its heels could bring mud slides and flash flooding in some areas today and tonight.

The National Weather Service said the second storm was expected to strike the coast head-on and have a stronger effect than the one that began Wednesday evening and dropped .93 of an inch of rain at the Los Angeles Civic Center before tapering off Thursday afternoon.

The rain should clear out by Saturday afternoon, the forecasters said--but a third storm could follow early in the week.

Rainfall amounts today and tonight could reach two to four inches in some coastal and lowland sections and from four to eight inches in some mountain areas, the weather service said. In the Los Angeles area, the total is expected to be one to two inches.

The brunt of the storm was expected to be in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties--which was bad news for residents of areas devastated by roaring brush fires last summer. The weather service issued a flash-flood alert and a high-wind warning for western San Luis Obispo County.

Some heavy showers in advance of the big new front already were in the San Luis Obispo and Tehachapi areas Thursday evening. Flash-flood warnings were issued for communities below the burn areas of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties until 4 p.m. today.

With sea conditions “deteriorating rapidly,” gale warnings were posted offshore from Point Pinos at Monterey to Point Conception in Santa Barbara County.

Three men were pulled from the storm-tossed ocean off the Palos Verdes Peninsula by a Coast Guard helicopter Thursday morning when their 60-foot salvage vessel sank. The helicopter arrived on the scene about five miles off Point Fermin in San Pedro just before the Double Eagle’s hull went down, Coast Guard Petty Officer James Chiunate said.

By the time the helicopter had circled the scene once, the stricken craft was gone, Chiunate said. The three crewmen were spotted in the water. Two of them were in a Styrofoam life raft and wearing life jackets while the third, who had no jacket, clung to the raft.

They were hauled aboard the helicopter and flown to Torrance Memorial Hospital, where they were pronounced in good condition and released.

They were identified as Harvey L. Hosler of Cudahy, Thomas R. Carter, 23, and Gary Smithers, also 23, of Stanton.

Nearly a dozen cars were involved in a morning rush-hour accident on the southbound Harbor Freeway in Carson. Two people were taken to UCLA Harbor Medical Center, but neither was hurt seriously enough to be hospitalized.

In downtown Los Angeles, two Southern California Rapid Transit District buses, a semi-trailer truck and a small pickup truck collided at 7th and Mateo streets. None of the bus passengers was reported injured, but pickup truck driver Donald Groves of Anaheim was in stable condition at County-USC Medical Center with a broken leg.

The intense new storm was generating large ocean swells expected to hit Southern California by this evening, producing breakers on west-facing beaches averaging 8 to 12 feet with occasional sets of 16 feet. But, the weather service said, the tides this weekend should average only about 4 feet, “minimizing the threat of serious coastal erosion or flooding.”

Nevertheless, the weather service issued a reminder that it is “extremely dangerous to fish or observe waves from exposed coastal structures or rocks during heavy surf conditions.” Swimming or surfing in such waves is also dangerous, the weather service pointed out.

Flash-flood watches were lifted temporarily in those areas of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties where last year’s brush fires made mud slides likely in hillside areas, but were expected to be reimposed before this morning.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Lt. Ernie Rogers said, “We’re just waiting for the big one to hit.”

He said there was no major damage Thursday, when between two and four inches of rain fell in Ventura County, although Matilija Canyon Road was closed by a mud slide. Rock slides forced closure of a 30-mile stretch of California 33 north of Ojai between Fairview Road and the Ozena station turnoff at Lockwood Valley Road.

There was no evacuation ordered in Matilija Canyon, Rogers said, but many residents voluntarily left to stay with friends and relatives until the danger passes.

The weather service said only a half inch or less of rain was expected to fall in the Ojai area overnight Thursday, but stressed that soil in the burn area is saturated and that even that amount will keep the ground wet.

Today, forecasters warned, “heavy rains will arrive which will have the potential for flash flooding and numerous rock and mud slides.”

Areas of Fires

Flash-flood watches were also in effect in those areas of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties where fires roared across thousands of acres of brush and timber last summer.

After Wednesday’s and Thursday’s rain, the weather service said, today’s storm “will likely give a good chance of additional flooding and slide problems. . . .”

Only minor mud- and rock-slide problems were reported in the canyon areas of Los Angeles County on Thursday.

There were some weather-related power outages Thursday, but the problem was not widespread, the Department of Water and Power and Southern California Edison Co. said.

The .93 of an inch rainfall recorded Thursday brought the Los Angeles Civic Center total for the season to 7.24 as of 4 p.m., nearly 4 inches below the total by this time last year. The normal total rainfall to date is 9.60.

Los Angeles International Airport had 1.32 inches by late Thursday afternoon. Avalon had 2.6, Culver City had 1.02, Long Beach had 1.22, Mt. Wilson had 1.55, Northridge had 1.1, Santa Barbara had 1.79, Torrance had 2.25 and Woodland Hills had 1.8.

Record amounts of rainfall were measured in the San Joaquin Valley, where Fresno had 1.61 inches--the most ever on a Feb. 12.

Heavy Rain Due

Thursday’s downtown high temperature was 59 degrees after an overnight low of 53. Relative humidity ranged from 90% to 80%.

Today, the Los Angeles area probably will have occasional rain or drizzle that by tonight will become heavy. On Saturday there will be morning showers, but they will probably give way to partly cloudy skies by afternoon.

Sunday and Monday are expected to be dry and a little warmer--but there may be some more rain by Tuesday, as at least one more front was reported forming north of Hawaii for a possible march toward the coast.

The current train of storms are relatively warm and wet, the weather service said, because they are not sliding down from the Gulf of Alaska.

These, the forecasters said, are “low-latitude” storms that can draw on subtropical moisture as they sweep eastward out of the Pacific. Consequently, snow does not fall in lower elevations and the rain can be in greater amounts.

With the major new storm moving in on California, there were warnings in effect for the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada from Kings Canyon northward today. Snow was expected above 6,000 to 8,000 feet and forecasters said it would be accompanied by high winds.

Some areas of the Sierra already had reported up to four feet of new snow by Thursday and accumulations of two feet or more are possible at higher elevations today.

Arizona also was anticipating a lot of rain from the “warm storm” and warned travelers to expect “a wet weekend.” RAIN IN THE REGION Rainfall in the past 24 hours .93 in. Rainfall this month 1.20 in. Rainfall since July 1 7.24 in. Total last season to date 11.29 in. Normal rainfal to date 9.60 in. Rainfall figures from Los Angeles Civic Center as of 4 p.m. Thursday. Season runs July 1 to June 30.