MOPPING UP : Victims of Storm Survey the Damage : Weather: Heavy rain is expected this morning, causing officials to worry that some already soaked hillsides might give way.

Looters waded through the muddy Sepulveda Basin for soggy cigarettes Tuesday, survivors recovered irreparably damaged cars, and officials began assessing the damage as a light rain drizzled on the San Fernando Valley, offering a respite between storms.

Despite the flash flooding in the Sepulveda Basin on Monday and the dramatic rescues of stranded motorists, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley told Gov. Pete Wilson’s office Tuesday that the Valley and the rest of Los Angeles did not need to be declared a disaster area and receive emergency relief, at least for the time being.

But the city’s director of emergency management, Shirley Mattingly, said Tuesday that her staff was preparing for more rain and the possibility that spongy hillsides might finally give way in landslides, undermining houses.

Heavy rain was predicted for this morning, tapering off throughout the day but continuing through at least Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Spokeswoman Pat Rowe said today’s storms were not expected to be as severe as Monday’s, which dumped 6.14 inches of rain in Woodland Hills.

“The hillsides are soaked and we’re fearful that we could start seeing some mud flows and debris flows through both public and private property,” Mattingly said.

As of Tuesday, there were few reports of residential damage--with the exception of low-lying, exclusive Hidden Hills--and the worst flooding seems to have been confined to the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area in Van Nuys. There, the Los Angeles River swelled rapidly and water in the area rose an unprecedented 14 feet within two hours Monday, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told the City Council.

Police said about 70 vehicles were abandoned, and dozens of motorists returned to the scene Tuesday to find most of the water ebbed away, but their vehicles still dripping.

“Well, I found out that the ashtray and the console in the middle of the seats hold water,” Scott Kubis, 29, said ruefully as he watched a tow truck pulling away with his Hyundai Excel.

“It’s just one big, giant mud puddle,” said Kubis, who abandoned his car when the water inside reached shoulder level.

All but half a dozen of the vehicles had been removed by nightfall. Auto insurance and restoration experts predicted that most of the vehicles would be scrapped by insurers, saying repair costs would be greater than the value of even the costliest cars.

Civilians weren’t the only ones forced to retrieve their vehicles. Firefighters supervised the towing of a $250,000 fire engine outfitted with a $15,000 computer that had been completely submerged, Los Angeles city fire officials said.

Fire officials had not determined the amount of damage to the engine, from which four firefighters rescued stranded motorists, but did not believe it was a complete loss.

Nor had city officials compiled a total estimate of the damage in the basin and elsewhere, Mattingly said. City Engineer Robert S. Horii told the City Council that he estimated $500,000 in damage to Department of Public Works property. The Department of Parks and Recreation, meanwhile, told Mattingly’s staff that an additional $500,000 may be needed to repair the basin’s golf courses.

Streets traversing the basin, such as Burbank Boulevard and Woodley Avenue, were still closed to prevent motorists from becoming trapped in ankle-deep mud and debris.

Still, many people intrigued by the flooding managed to slip into the area--including two suspected looters who rode their bikes to the scene, waded toward an abandoned catering truck and allegedly stole 14 packs of cigarettes, some wet, some muddy. Police arrested Martin Glen Danhi, 26, of Encino on suspicion of auto burglary. His companion, arrested for outstanding misdemeanor warrants, was not identified.

Many visitors came simply for a firsthand glimpse of the area where 46 motorists were rescued from the roofs of their cars, from trees and from telephone poles during Monday’s deluge.

“Some people said they didn’t have a chance to see it on TV, so they want to see it,” said Los Angeles Police Officer Alfredo Avalos, who was checking registration and identification of people coming to claim cars.

Bob and Katie Skarda, both 69, of Panorama City, who were strolling through the muddy area, admitted that they were “lookie-loos” but said they had to see the sight for themselves after watching the television reports.

“I couldn’t visualize it,” said Bob Skarda as he plucked his feet from a muddy median. “I had to see it for myself.”

In Lake View Terrace, a pedestrian reported seeing someone in a bright-orange life vest floating down the Tujunga Wash. Los Angeles police searched on foot and by helicopter but found only several bright-orange garbage bags.

Merryl Edelstein, a Los Angeles city planner, said the heavy rains had no effect on the city’s review of a proposal by a Japanese firm, Cosmo World Corp., to develop an 18-hole championship golf course in the upper reaches of the Big Tujunga Wash.

The proposed golf course is the subject of a controversial environmental review involving Mayor Bradley.

Cosmo World has proposed a major flood-control plan to protect its $50-million golf course from flooding by Big Tujunga Creek as the unruly stream tumbles out of the San Gabriel Mountains and onto the San Fernando Valley floor. The Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday that there had been no significant flooding in that area Monday or Tuesday.

City public works officials concluded in 1990 that Cosmo World’s flood-control plan could protect nearby homes from a huge storm and not endanger existing bridges over the Foothill Freeway and Foothill Boulevard.

The Times recently reported that Mayor Bradley, who has received more than $30,000 in campaign contributions from Cosmo World and its affiliates, made repeated phone calls to top city planning officials inquiring about the status of the Cosmo World project, and that he once urged them to speed up their review of the project. Bradley denied that he meant to influence the planners’ conclusions.

Meanwhile, police at the Van Nuys station said they were inundated with calls in response to a radio news report that vehicles abandoned in the basin were given parking tickets as they were towed away.

Sgt. Jim Stoney denied the report, saying that a “notice of towing”--not a parking citation--was being placed on the cars, informing owners that they had to show proof of ownership and pay towing and storage fees before they could recover them.

Times staff writers Aaron Curtiss, Greg Braxton, Julio Moran and John Schwada contributed to this story.