Rain Takes Drivers by Storm, Raises Threat of Landslides

The heaviest rainfall of the season fell on Southern California on Thursday, triggering dozens of traffic accidents, slowing freeway commuters, in all directions--and raising the threat of landslides in areas denuded by summer wildfires.

The National Weather Service said .70 of an inch of rain fell at the Los Angeles Civic Center between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., bringing the total for the season to .80. Weather statisticians said this is .39 above normal for this time in the season, but still considerably below the 2.68 inches that had fallen by this time last year.

The weather service said it was the most rain in downtown Los Angeles since Jan. 4, when more than an inch of moisture was reported in a single day.

Other parts of the Southland received more. In Pasadena, .82 of an inch had fallen by 5 p.m., and .96 of an inch fell in Westwood, while Mt. Wilson had 1.22 inches, Santa Barbara had 1.37 and Woodland Hills had 1.63.

A mud slide blocked California 39 at the mouth of San Gabriel Canyon for more than four hours during the afternoon. One motorist’s car was trapped in the slide, but sheriff’s deputies said the driver was not injured.

To the south, the weather service said, .95 of an inch of rain had fallen at Palomar Mountain in San Diego County by 2 p.m. The rain, in an area burned by a brush fire, triggered several mud slides that knocked out power and caused road closures.

Also in San Diego County, a single-story office that is headquarters for the Wynema Municipal Water District was destroyed by a torrent of rock and debris loosened by the rain. Officials said the slide, on the Rincon Indian reservation in the Pauma Valley, in the foothills of the Cleveland National Forest, occurred in another area left bare by a brush fire earlier this month.

Mike Smith, a meteorologist at WeatherData, a private weather consulting firm which provides forecasts for The Times, said skies should be sunnier today, though some clouds will remain--along with a 25% chance of more showers--through Saturday, while the low-pressure center that caused Thursday’s rain passes out of the area.

By Sunday morning, however, Smith said another low that was about 300 miles west of Crescent City should move to a position 400 miles west-southwest of Los Angeles, which could draw a large mass of moisture into Southern California and begin another storm cycle.

A spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol said the number of accidents reported on Los Angeles County freeways during the first two hours of the storm was “about 200% of normal,” but no deaths or serious injuries appeared to have resulted.

One accident involved two tractor-trailer rigs that collided and jackknifed on the rain-slick transition road from the Artesia Freeway to the northbound San Gabriel River Freeway, closing the roadway for about three hours and snarling traffic for several miles.

In the San Fernando Valley, the northbound Golden State Freeway was flooded waist-deep at Lankershim Boulevard, tying up four of the freeway’s five northbound lanes and forcing motorists to squeeze through in single file.

Several cars and one Brinks armored truck were stalled and partially submerged there by late evening. No injuries were reported, but Agnes Cox, 43, of Highland Park, said she had a narrow escape.

She said she was northbound on the Golden State Freeway a little before 9 p.m. Thursday when it began to rain heavily, forcing her to slow to 10 m.p.h. She was under the Lankershim overpass, she said, when a “wall of mud” surged down the freeway embankment, partially covering the vehicle and pushing it about 15 feet before it came to rest.

Cox said she and her daughter, Cheryl, 11, managed to get out of the car on the passenger side and climbed the embankment to the street above.

“I don’t know where my car is, now,” she said. “It’s somewhere out there on the freeway.”

Some minor flooding was also reported along Pacific Coast Highway.

A spokeswoman for Los Angeles International Airport said operations there were slowed at about 1:15 p.m., when heavy rainfall obscured visibility. But most flights arrived and departed smoothly through the rest of the afternoon.

A spokesman for Southern California Edison Co. said from 90,0000 to 100,000 customers were without power at some time during the day because of the storm, but only 3,500 were still blacked out by early evening.

Marc Haefele of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said that utility was experiencing widespread problems in its electric distribution system due to the storm, with seven major power lines out in the San Fernando Valley, primarily due to lightning, causing a blackout for 6,000 customers.

In addition, he said, problems with a feeder line at 7th and Los Angeles streets caused about 1,000 other customers to lose power.

At 1:45 p.m., the National Weather Service issued an urban and small-stream flood statement, saying that rainfall amounts of half an inch to an inch were reported in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys.

“Many roadways in these areas have standing water on them and some underpasses were reported flooded, but still passable,” the statement said.

Spokesmen for the U.S. Forest Service and state Department of Forestry said no major slides had been reported due to the rainstorm, but a watch was being kept in areas where natural ground cover was destroyed by fire.

Minor Warming Trend

High temperature in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday reached 69 degrees, with relative humidity ranging from 71% to 97%. And the weather service said it should be about the same today, with a minor warming trend continuing--along with the possibility of rain--through the beginning of next week.

Beaches were expected to remain cloudy through the weekend, with a chance of showers persisting into next week and surf running from one to three feet in most places. The weather service said temperatures should reach the mid-70s today and Saturday, with an afternoon sea breeze rising to 16 m.p.h. The ocean temperature will be about 10 degrees cooler than the air.

A small-craft advisory was in effect in outer coastal waters Thursday afternoon, warning of 30-knot east-to-southeast winds and five-foot seas from Point Conception to Santa Rosa Island. But forecasters said this should subside to 20 knots today.

Inner coastal waters were calmer, with two-foot seas and southerly winds to 16 knots, expected to die overnight and rise southwest in the 15- to 20-knot range today.

Mountain visitors were told to expect dense local fog overnight through the weekend, with continued showers and locally heavy rain, blown by winds rising to 30 m.p.h. at times. Temperatures were expected to be in the mid-40s to mid-60s range in the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains, with the snow level pegged at 9,000 feet throughout the Sierra.

Deserts too will come in for a few scattered showers through the weekend, forecasters said, with temperatures rising to the mid-70s in the high desert and the mid-80s in the low desert.