Cold Snap’s Toll at 5 as Its Iciest Night Arrives : Man Found Dead in Rural Orange County; Homeless Seek Shelter in Record Numbers

This morning should be the coldest yet in a week of chilly Southland weather that has apparently contributed to at least five deaths, including one in Orange County, and sent homeless flocking to shelters in record numbers, forecasters said Wednesday.

The continuing cold prompted officials in Orange and Los Angeles counties to extend offers of food and shelter to the homeless again Wednesday night.

The extremely cold weather of the last few days may have been a factor in the death of a 36-year-old man who was found along a rural road in south Orange County late Monday, officials said Wednesday.

The Orange County sheriff-coroner’s office said the body of the man was found by a jogger alongside a fire road about a mile from Coto de Caza, an unincorporated area northeast of Mission Viejo. Officials said the man, whose name was not released pending notification of family, was apparently a transient.

A spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department said the man was fully clothed when found. A cause of death has not yet been determined, but the man may have died from exposure, Coroner’s Deputy Ron Stanzak said.

In Santa Barbara County, officials said Wednesday that subfreezing temperatures apparently killed a 73-year-old transient as he slept in an avocado grove about 5 miles from President Reagan’s mountaintop ranch.

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.

In Los Angeles County, 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 is suspected.

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 cold may may killed the man, who was in his 40s.

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 became concerned that they had not seen the woman for several days.

Five lightly dressed hikers were rescued early Wednesday after becoming 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. No injuries were reported, officials said.

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

Farmer 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.

In Northern California, where temperatures fell 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 just two minor injuries in the accident. But 2 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 3 hours.

Fast-Moving Storm

The cold weather came after 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 CHP 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.

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.

Times staff writer Carla Rivera in Orange County also contributed to this article.