Cold Snap’s Toll at 5 as Its Iciest Night Arrives : Los Angeles Homeless Again Offered Shelter; Farmers Work to Save Frost-Sensitive Crops

This morning should be the coldest yet in a week of chilly Southland weather that has apparently contributed to at least five deaths, seen the homeless flock to shelters in record numbers and forced farmers to employ a variety of strategies to save frost-sensitive crops, forecasters said Wednesday.

The continuing cold prompted city officials to extend offers of food and shelter to the homeless of Los Angeles on Wednesday evening for a seventh consecutive night.

Temperatures were expected to plummet to as low as 23 degrees this morning in some wind-protected valleys in Southern California. And agricultural officials warned that frost-sensitive crops like citrus, avocados and strawberries could suffer severe damage if they are not protected.

Farmers’ Tactics

Farmers irrigate with relatively warm water, fire up petroleum-fueled orchard heaters and stir up warming air currents with wind machines and helicopters to raise temperatures the critical few degrees that can spell the difference between saving their crops and total crop loss.

“I’ve done everything I can to prepare for the worst but pray, and I’m going to do plenty of that, too,” said Ben Hillebrecht, an avocado and citrus grower in Escondido.

Officials said Wednesday that subfreezing temperatures apparently claimed the life of a 73-year-old transient as he slept in an avocado grove about 5 miles from President Ronald Reagan’s mountaintop ranch in Santa Barbara County.

The body of the 90-pound man who had been in ill health was found Tuesday. His identity was withheld pending notification of relatives.

“It was quite cold in that canyon area, and he was only wearing light clothes and only had a thin blanket,” Santa Barbara County Deputy Coroner Dennis Prescott said.

The body of Dennis Beuchler, 47, was found by a relative in his unheated house in the 3700 block of 3rd Avenue in north Glendale Tuesday morning. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office said hypothermia was suspected.

An unidentified man was found dead late Monday on a rural road in the Coto de Caza area of Orange County, officials said. The coroner’s office said the cause of death had not been determined, but the man appeared to have died from hypothermia.

The body of another man, as yet unidentified, was found Monday at Boyd and Los Angeles streets in downtown Los Angeles, clad only in underwear and a T-shirt. Officials said the man, apparently in his 40s, may have succumbed to the cold.

5th Victim in Long Beach

Police said the body of a fifth victim, Leonard Poindexter, 48, was found Monday in an abandoned building in Long Beach. He also appeared to have succumbed to hypothermia, officials said.

A 72-year-old woman was reported in satisfactory condition Wednesday at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood after police found her, chilled and alone, on the floor of her unheated home in South-Central Los Angeles late Tuesday night.

Paramedics who treated Lydia Abukhalil for hypothermia said her body temperature had dropped to 92 degrees.

“The doctors and nurses said that in all probability she would not have survived the night,” Los Angeles Police Sgt. Jim Miller said.

Police were called to the home after neighbors expressed concern because they had not seen the woman for several days.

Five lightly dressed hikers were rescued early Wednesday after being stranded when freezing rain made their path past waterfalls in the San Gabriel Mountains too slippery to negotiate. Help was summoned by a sixth hiker, who made it out on his own. None of the six suffered hypothermia or other injury, officials said.

In Northern California, where temperatures plunged below freezing in all but the warmest areas Wednesday morning, a gasoline tanker truck on Interstate 5 skidded on a patch of ice near Redding, crashed into several cars and exploded in a fireball that was visible for miles.

There were only two minor injuries in the accident. But two hours later, another truck skidded on the slick pavement about 15 miles to the south on Interstate 5, injuring a dozen more. The crashes forced the California Highway Patrol to close the state’s main north-south artery for more than three hours to clear away the wreckage.

Fast-Moving Storm

The cold weather throughout the state came in the wake of a fast-moving storm that dumped light snow at higher elevations and a few sprinkles in scattered areas of the Los Angeles Basin late Tuesday.

Moist, unstable air associated with the weather system continued to drop heavy snow in the northern mountain ranges as the storm headed east Wednesday.

The California Highway Patrol reported that Interstate 5 was closed Wednesday night from Lake Hughes to Laval Road because of snow and freezing rain, which made the going treacherous. The freeway through the Grapevine was expected to remain closed at least for the night, officials said.

No measurable rain fell at the Los Angeles Civic Center on Wednesday, where humidity ranged between 45% and 89%.

The high temperature downtown was 55 degrees and the low was 38, just two degrees above the all-time low for the date of 36, recorded in 1954.

Meteorologists said it will be colder this morning. Forecast readings at key agricultural stations in the Southland included the Imperial Valley, 27; Orange and Riverside counties, 26; Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties, 25, and San Diego County, 23.

Mike Smith, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The times, said lows in the Los Angeles area this morning should range from 40 near the ocean to near freezing at the Civic Center and somewhere in the upper 20s in the coldest suburbs.

Smith said the highs today in the metropolitan area should be between 50 and 60. Tonight should be about 10 degrees warmer than Wednesday night, he said, with midday temperatures Friday a little warmer than today’s.

There should be increasing cloudiness Friday, with a chance of showers Saturday, Smith said.