Heavy Rain, High Winds Trigger Fear of Flooding

A large, wet and warm storm system arrived on schedule Thursday, drenching most of California, prompting flood warnings for Southland cities, deserts and canyons and raking many areas with winds of 50 m.p.h. or more.

The northern part of the state caught it first as more than six inches of rain was recorded at Mining Ridge in Monterey County for a 24-hour period. It was not long before Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties began to post flash-flood warnings as the storm spread.

Los Angeles was expected to get its heaviest rain as the storm moved inland overnight. An “urban flood advisory” was issued by the National Weather Service because of the possibility that streets with poor drainage could become rivers.

There were no early reports of major damage as up to two inches of rain fell along the Central California coast north of Santa Barbara. That city had recorded more than 2 1/2 inches of rain by late Thursday afternoon. The weather service said similar amounts were expected along the Southern California coast.

Only .10 of an inch of rain had fallen on the Los Angeles Civic Center by 5 p.m. Thursday, however, bringing the season total to 6.70 inches. The normal season total for the date is 11.52.

The Southern California mountains were expected to get four to six inches of rain, but the snow level is expected to remain around 8,000 feet with considerable melting of the snowpack.

The 5 p.m. readings included .23 of an inch at Mt. Wilson, .18 at Northridge, .15 at San Gabriel, .29 at Woodland Hills, .10 at Torrance, .15 at Long Beach, .31 at Santa Monica, .73 at Santa Maria, .15 at Culver City and .47 at Fresno.

Three lanes of the northbound Golden State Freeway were blocked for a time shortly after 2 p.m. by a six-car pileup with injuries south of the Pasadena Freeway. A mud slide closed one southbound lane of Malibu Canyon Road in the Malibu area Thursday evening.

Other than the usual rash of wet-weather traffic accidents, there were no notable problems in the Los Angeles Basin as of mid-evening.

The rain gave Skid Row’s homeless a temporary reprieve from the city’s announced plan to resume its controversial sweeps of sidewalk encampments. Dee Dee Myers, an aide to Mayor Tom Bradley, said the downpour made it “more difficult to clean up the sidewalk.”

Cary Schudy, of the San Francisco-based private Earth Environment Service, said the rain was relatively warm because the storm front was on a north-south line before it reached the coast, thus picking up subtropical moisture from the south.

This morning, he said, should bring more heavy rain to the Los Angeles Basin, “but by noon, I think things will be much better. It should start to clear out by afternoon.”

According to the National Weather Service, today should be cool and cloudy with diminishing showers and gusty winds 15 m.p.h. to 25 m.p.h. at times. High Los Angeles temperatures today should be in the low to mid-60s. By Saturday, forecasters said, it should warm up a little and stay that way for the weekend.

Thursday’s high Civic Center temperature was 69. The overnight low was 61. Relative humidity ranged from 78% to 32%.

By Thursday noon, forecasters had measured two inches of rain at Santa Barbara Airport, 2.60 at San Marcos Pass, 1.73 at Casmalia and 1.93 at Lake Cachuma.

The San Joaquin Valley had scattered power outages, some flooded streets and downed tree limbs, but no major damage. The winds at Bakersfield Airport and at Wheeler Ridge in the southern part of Kern County were gusting to 50 m.p.h., and motorists were being warned to be careful as they drove toward the Grapevine on Interstate 5.

There also were wind warnings to motorists in the Southern California desert and mountain areas.

Wind also was a major problem in Northern California, where a Mendocino County youth was killed when his car was crushed by a falling tree as he was leaving for school. The wind was blowing at 50 m.p.h. when Jason Strong, 17, of Willits, died.

Winds gusting to 75 m.p.h. were reported in the Eureka area. San Francisco International Airport reported gusts up to 47 m.p.h.

Along the Southern California coast, the storm was pushing the surf up, measuring four to six feet from Santa Barbara to San Diego with local sets up to 10 feet at more exposed points. Those conditions should continue today, forecasters said. However, there was little chance of immediate damage to coastal structures, the weather service said.

Contributing to this story were Times Staff Writers Penelope McMillan and Nieson Himmel.