Remnants of Hurricane Diana Blamed for Rain in Southland

Remnants of Hurricane Diana have been pumping warm, moist air from the Gulf of California to the Southwestern deserts, resulting in thundershowers, lightning shows and scattered rain in parts of Southern California, forecasters said Wednesday.

Light showers and a brief power outage were reported in Glendora and other parts of the San Gabriel Valley on Wednesday, but that rain was a far cry from the downpours and flash flooding in the Southern California desert on Tuesday.

Flash floods occurred near Death Valley, Twentynine Palms and El Centro, and hail and heavy rain pelted parts of Imperial County on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. No injuries were reported.

A 1,000-foot stretch of California 62 about 20 miles east of Twentynine Palms was covered by about eight feet of sand carried a mile down a wash by a flash flood, Dan Burkett, a state Department of Transportation worker, said. A 20-mile stretch of the two-lane highway between Twentynine Palms and Parker, Ariz., was closed by the California Highway Patrol while heavy equipment removed the sand. The highway was reopened Wednesday.

Residents in Imperial County reported golf ball-sized hail, sheets of rain and fierce lightning that briefly knocked out power in some sections of El Centro and Raleigh on Tuesday. Local flooding hampered traffic in El Centro, Westmoreland and Raleigh, said El Centro police dispatcher Deborah Carmelo.

Funnel clouds were reported near Daggett in San Bernardino County at 5:45 p.m. and 7:18 p.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

“Hurricane Diana over the Gulf of Mexico moved across Mexico and took up residence in the Gulf of California,” said Bill Hibbert, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. “That’s a good feeding ground for it, and it just spun and spun and spun.”