Massive Storm Hits; Flooding, Slides Triggered

The expected massive weather front stormed ashore the length of California Friday, paralyzing traffic, flooding highways, knocking out power, setting off mud slides and intensifying fear in canyons and on soggy hillsides denuded by last summer’s disastrous brushfires.

In the Ojai area of Ventura County, rain pounded down at the rate of nearly one inch an hour, turning streams into roaring rivers and forcing the evacuation of homes.

There were flash flood warnings in Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and nearly a dozen other counties as far north as Shasta. Locally, the alert was issued for the seaside slopes of the Santa Monica Mountains where three major blazes burned last year.

Flood watches were declared below the mountains in the San Fernando, San Gabriel and San Bernardino valleys.

Regarded by the National Weather Service as a particularly perilous spot was the Matilija Creek area near Ojai, close to the huge Wheeler Gorge brushfire site, and parts of Ojai itself.

As the drenching rains continued to hammer down, 8 to 10 homes were evacuated on North Rice Road in Ojai.

After a nervous day of sandbagging their homes and cabins while watching the leaden skies, residents there finally began getting the rain about mid-afternoon. In 20 minutes, more than a quarter of an inch had fallen as the storm front swept inland from the Pacific. By 8:30 p.m., 1.75 inches had drenched the region and that much again was expected to fall by 11 p.m.

Ground Saturated

The weather service noted that the ground was saturated from previous storms and flooding of small creeks and streams was “imminent.” It was, the forecasters said, “a dangerous situation.”

Two ranchhands and a boy were swept away in swollen San Antonio Creek near the eastern edge of the city of Ojai and for a time it appeared that one and perhaps two of them were missing, but Ventura County Sheriff’s deputies finally concluded that all three had been rescued.

One was taken to Ojai Community Hospital for treatment of hypothermia.

Deputies said the normally small creek had turned into a 50-foot-wide river that flooded across Ladera Ranch Road.

Reagans Cut Trip Short

President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, decided to leave their mountaintop ranch near Santa Barbara today rather than at the end of the three-day weekend. High winds knocked out the power for a brief time and Mrs. Reagan had to stuff towels under the ranch house door to keep the rain water out.

“I think this is the worst storm we have ever seen at the ranch,” the First Lady told her press secretary, Elaine Crispen.

Rain had soaked the Santa Ynez Mountains since the Reagans arrived at the ranch on Wednesday for what they intended to be a six-day vacation. They decided to leave today, with the President flying back to Washington after delivering his weekly radio address and the First Lady going to Los Angeles to attend a wedding.

Because of the bad weather, they are to leave the ranch by motorcade rather than helicopter.

Lightning, Thunder

As the squall line moved into the Southland during the early evening, there was lightning and thunder throughout the Los Angeles Basin.

Freeway traffic was snarled by flooding which only seemed to worsen as the evening progressed. Flooding forced closure of the Santa Monica and Ventura freeways in several locations and Pacific Coast Highway was closed from Topanga to Las Flores canyons due to mud slides.

In Huntington Beach, Pacific Coast Highway was closed from Golden West Street to Warner Avenue when surf began breaking over the highway.

In Culver City, a small section of roof collapsed beneath accumulated rain water at the Boys Market, 6695 Green Valley Circle. Firefighters said there were no injuries.

Winds whipped through the mountains, gusting to 75 m.p.h. at Laguna Peak in Ventura County and to 60 m.p.h. at Sandberg near the Grapevine and at Palmdale in the Antelope Valley.

Winds Rip Away Roof

In Lancaster, about 70 people were evacuated without injury from the Yogi Hilton, a small residential hotel in the 44900 block of Cedar Avenue, when winds ripped away the roof.

“It’s a huge system we’re talking about,” said weather service spokesman Bill Hoffer, “involving hundreds of miles from Oregon to Southern California and even Mexico.”

Hoffer said it is possible that the rain can continue sporadically until Monday morning, although the official forecast was for only a few lingering showers into Sunday, then maybe some sunshine and cloudiness on Monday and Tuesday before possible new rainstorms on Wednesday.

Between two and four inches of rain were expected in the Southern California coastal areas and up to eight inches could fall in the mountains by this afternoon, forecasters said.

A flash flood watch also was to go into effect Friday midnight until noon today along the coastal slopes of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountain ranges.

‘Ready for Quick Action’

“Persons in and about the watch areas are advised to keep informed and be ready for quick action if flooding or earth movement is observed or if a warning is issued,” the weather service said. “Mud slides and urban street flooding are likely in the usually prone areas.”

Residents were advised not to wait for further warnings if “you are in a danger area and observe heavy rain or flooding. Move to higher ground immediately.”

And Southlanders were warned of continuing heavy surf kicked up by the advancing storm. Breakers on west-facing beaches should average eight to 12 feet with occasional sets to 16 feet, forecasters said.

Offshore, a gale warning was in effect, with gusts of up to 60 knots expected along with what forecasters called 12-to-18-foot “confused seas” through this morning.

Friday’s storm slammed into the Northern California coast early in the morning, forcing evacuation of some neighborhoods north of San Francisco, shutting schools and creating havoc on the highways.

Mud Slide Warning

Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties already had more than three inches of rain by mid-morning, and it was still pouring. U.S. Geological Survey officials warned that mud slides were probable throughout much of the San Francisco Bay area if the rainfall rate reached three inches per six hours.

Mining Ridge in the mountains of Monterey County had been deluged by more than 18 inches of rain since Wednesday.

There were flash flood warnings in Shasta, Tehama, Glenn, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.

Mike O’Brien of the California Highway Patrol said: “It’s unbelievable out there. The rain is coming down like somebody just turned on a fire hose.”

More than 200 residents of homes and a mobile home park along the Petaluma River were evacuated by Petaluma police, firefighters and Coast Guardsmen as the river threatened to break through its banks. Petaluma Police Capt. Dennis Dewitt said officers were using small boats to get to some homes.

North of San Francisco, U.S. 101 leading to the Golden Gate Bridge was closed at the Marin-Sonoma county line for about four hours after five feet of water streamed across the pavement. One lane was reopened late in the afternoon. The Lakeville Highway, the alternate route, was closed at California 37, cutting off residents of Sonoma and northern Marin County.

Windows Blown Out

Windows were blown out of two San Francisco skyscrapers, and parts of a scaffolding as well as building materials were hurled by the wind into several parked cars.

In Napa County, there were mud slides and flooding. The Napa River threatened to overflow. Capt. John Robertson of the Napa County Sheriff’s office said: “I wouldn’t advise anyone to travel up here. There’s lots of mud slides, rocks falling and trees crashing down. It’s pretty dangerous.”

The Russian River also seemed ready to exceed flood stage by early this morning.

Continuing heavy rains in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where the big Lexington Reservoir fire swept through thousands of acres of brush last year, caused the weather service and the U.S. Geological Survey to issue a special warning of possible mud slides and flows of debris.

“Persons living in the mountainous areas of the Bay Area should watch for earth slippage and be prepared to move to safe ground,” the advisory said.

At least one house in the Boulder Brook area of the Santa Cruz Mountains slid down a hillside, but Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s officers were not able to determine whether anyone was in it.

In Santa Clara County, a bridge was washed out and several roads were closed by slides.

In Santa Cruz, a tree fell on a power station, leaving 4,600 homes without power. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. reported more than 70,000 customers were affected by outages throughout Northern and Central California.

Strong winds tore into the Central California coast, gusting to 40 and 50 m.p.h. in Santa Maria and other locations. By early afternoon, power was already out in some parts of Santa Maria as trees and branches were knocked into wires.

Power Outages

San Luis Obispo also had outages, forcing the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department to rely on emergency power.

In the Sierra Nevada, high wind forced closure of the Tahoe Donner ski resort area. A winter storm warning was in effect above 6,500 feet, where strong winds and blowing snow were expected to cause difficulties. The snow level was expected to drop to 5,000 feet today.

While Southern Californians waited for the storm to hit with full force, the weather service reported at 4 p.m. Friday that only .15 of an inch of rain had been measured in the Los Angeles Civic Center since Thursday midnight, bringing the season total to 7.75 inches. Slightly more than a half inch had fallen since 4 p.m. Thursday.

The normal to date is 9.71.

High temperatures in the Los Angeles area today should be in the mid-60s. Friday’s high at the Los Angeles Civic Center was 66 after an overnight low of 58. The high relative humidity was 93% and the low was 78%.

The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power reported that about 800 homes in the Mount Washington area were without electricity Friday afternoon, but spokeswoman Liz Wimmer said it was not immediately known whether the outage was caused by the weather.

Staff writer Ruth Snyder, in San Francisco, and photographer Bob Carey assisted in preparing this report.