Rain May Allow More Pumping to Urban Areas

With California’s heavy rains came new predictions from state authorities Tuesday that more water can be allocated to urban users than had been projected before the March storms struck; there was even a suggestion that some drought rationing plans may become less stringent.

Although that was good news for the thirsty state, the storm that passed through Southern California late Monday and early Tuesday carried with it unusual tornado-like winds that damaged homes in San Diego, Lakewood and Bellflower and caused widespread power outages. The downpour also was responsible for scattered incidents of flash flooding and mudslides that closed numerous roads in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, two areas hardest hit by the storm.

Forecasters said showers probably would return to the Southland by this morning and continue through Thursday. Meanwhile, a storm carrying an inch of rain or more was expected Thursday in Northern California.

Because the month has produced twice the normal rainfall in large parts of the state, an official of the Department of Water Resources said it has been possible every day since March 4 to pump the maximum amount of water allowable by state regulations from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to the all-important San Luis Reservoir in Kern County.

The reservoir is the key storage place for water that is drawn from the northern part of the state and ultimately shipped along the California Aqueduct to customers in Southern California.

Shipments from the reservoir had been reduced by state water officials because the levels were dangerously low.

But Larry Gage, chief of the schedules and analysis branch of the Department of Water Resources, said it was very likely that the allocations for the rest of the year could be increased--although not necessarily dramatically--at the next supply review by state water officials in early April.

Jennifer Persike, a spokeswoman for the Assn. of California Water Agencies, said that while no agency has yet decided to make water rationing less stringent, “that may come after the storms have settled down and everybody is better able to determine what they have. I know that state and federal agencies are all trying to size up what these storms have meant.”

Although San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor, an adamant foe of water rationing, asked state officials to declare the drought over and to distribute all water from the latest storms, the Water Resources Department’s Drought Center said such a move would not be made.

Even a year of normal rainfall statewide would not lead to an end of the drought declaration because much more rain would be needed to fill reservoirs and replenish ground water basins, said Dee Davis of the Drought Center.

At the federal Bureau of Reclamation, spokeswoman Linette Wirth said that while March rainfall figures “are looking good,” no announcements of federal water allocation changes will be made until mid-April.

She noted that some of the heaviest rains have fallen in Southern California, outside the most important water storage areas of the Sierra and Cascades and that four key Northern California reservoirs remain well below normal storage figures for this time of year.

Wirth said the Shasta Reservoir north of Redding was at 54% of normal early this week. The Claire Engle on the Trinity River was at 56% of normal; Folsom, east of Sacramento, 53% of normal, and the New Melones Reservoir, southeast of Sacramento, only 28% of normal.

By contrast, after Ventura received five inches of rain in the latest storm ending early Tuesday, Ventura County authorities reported that their Casitas Reservoir was 100% of normal for this time of year and filled to 51% of its total capacity. For the first time since 1986, Ventura city rainfall was above normal for the season.

Santa Barbara authorities also said that the five to 11 inches of rain that fell in the county’s mountainous areas in the storm had insured that the Cachuma Reservoir would not run out of water until at least 1993. Only Monday, the same authorities had predicted that mid-1992 would be the run-dry date.

The smaller Gibraltar Reservoir, which usually provides the city of Santa Barbara with 30% of its water but had not provided any recently, filled up Tuesday and water had to be spilled out of it.

While drought experts were assessing the effect of the rain, homeowners were lamenting the damage wrought by the storms.

About 100 homes were damaged by high winds in the San Carlos area of San Diego, including one that lost its roof. Trees fell on parked automobiles and a refrigerator was blown from one lot to another.

In Carson, Lakewood, Bellflower, Compton and Long Beach, wind shattered windows, uprooted trees and ripped tiles from roofs. A small funnel that touched down in Lakewood shattered a billboard and downed power lines. A tree crashed through a living room window in Bellflower.

In Newport Beach, high winds ripped open the stern of a moored fishing boat and tore several other boats loose from their anchorages. In Orange County, as elsewhere, a much higher number of traffic accidents than usual were reported on the wet roads.

Mudslides closed many roads in both Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said power outages in West Los Angeles, San Pedro and elsewhere in its service area had affected more than 200,000 homes and businesses overnight. About 15,000 customers, mostly in West Los Angeles and the Hollywood Hills, lost power.

Southern California Edison also reported frequent trouble in its service area, with 79 momentary outages and 97 interruptions “of a greater duration.”

Los Angeles Civic Center received 1.48 inches of rain in the storm, bringing its total rainfall for the year to 6.86 inches, still well below the normal for this time of year of 12.64 inches, but above last year’s figure of 5.61 inches.

Rainfall totaled 1.27 inches in El Toro, 1.29 inches in Long Beach, 1.73 inches in Monrovia, 3.23 inches at Mt. Wilson, 2.74 inches at Point Mugu and 2.59 inches in Santa Barbara.

Forecasts said showers would probably hit the Southland by this morning and continue today and Thursday. Meanwhile, a storm carrying an inch of rain or more was expected Thursday in Northern California.

A tanker carrying hazardous chemicals was among 20 freight train cars that veered off the tracks south of San Luis Obispo when a rain-soaked rail bed collapsed.

The derailment caused the suspension of passenger rail service between Northern and Southern California. Passengers on the Coast Starlights had to be bused past the trouble spots.

Interstate 5 also was closed for several hours because of snow over the Grapevine and flooding west of Bakersfield.

“So we were concerned about a drought program and flooding the same day,” said Water Resources Department spokesman Davis.

Times staff writers Henry Chu in Orange County, Joanna M. Miller in Ventura and Miles Corwin in Santa Barbara also contributed to this article.

THE RAIN 24-hour total: 1.48 in. Storm total: 1.48 in. Monthly total: 2.16 in. Total for season: 6.86 in. Last season to date: 5.61 in. Normal season to date: 12.64 in.

Figures, based on 3 p.m. readings at the Los Angeles Civic Center, are compiled by the National Weather Service, which provides no later data.