Huge Storm Continues With More to Come

One of the wettest storms to strike Los Angeles in a century continued to drench Southern California on Tuesday, bringing brown torrents to normally parched riverbeds but causing remarkably little damage.

More rain was forecast to begin pounding the Southland by this morning and another equally powerful wave of moisture was expected by the weekend--making this a storm “of historical proportions, for sure,” said meteorologist Steve Burback.

The storm caused havoc on many streets and highways in Orange County, where more than two inches of rain fell in areas.

But in Los Angeles, where mammoth flooding occurred in the Sepulveda Dam Basin in Van Nuys, and mudslides, power outages, sewage spills and traffic snarls plagued the city, officials said they were not yet requesting the governor to declare a state of emergency.

Several local legislators have called for the declaration--which would provide emergency relief funds and low-interest loans to those hardest hit. But city officials said property loss so far is estimated to be only $500,000 and concentrated in the Sepulveda Basin area.

“Obviously, we’re waiting on them and if they want us to help, we’ll help,” said James Lee, a spokesman for Gov. Pete Wilson.

The rain Tuesday--part of a huge low pressure front parked off the central California coast--was lighter than Monday’s deluge, which left parts of Van Nuys under 15 feet of water and led to dramatic rescues of dozens of stranded motorists who had been traveling across the flood basin.

Woodland Hills recorded 2.8 inches of rain by 4 p.m. Tuesday, after a stunning 6.1 inches the day before, said Burback, of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

The Los Angeles Civic Center had 2.1 inches by Tuesday afternoon.

But the weather still played havoc on terrain that has grown accustomed to long, bone-dry stretches--turning hillsides into muddy rivers and sending millions of gallons of sewage spewing into the ocean. The 76-mile coastline from the Ventura County line to Long Beach remained closed.

While some residents marveled at the forces that brought life to the usually dry canals that pass for rivers in Los Angeles, others spent the day mopping up, laying sandbags and bracing for the next downpour.

“I don’t really know why I’m sticking around, except maybe it just hasn’t registered yet,” said artist Valerie Titus, 23, of Malibu, as she searched for belongings in the two feet of mud that had come crashing through her Las Flores Canyon home. “I lost everything.”

The rain disrupted Amtrak rail traffic, causing trains to slow to 10 m.p.h. in Orange County and washing out tracks in Moorpark.

Northbound travelers on the Coast Starlight were taken off the train in Glendale and bused to Santa Barbara, where they boarded another train headed north. Southbound passengers were taken off the train in Santa Barbara and bused to Glendale. Amtrak officials said they anticipate no problems today.

Travelers on slick roadways fared no better, with dozens of accidents, including a five-car pileup on the San Bernardino Freeway near Boyle Heights that claimed the life of a 35-year-old West Covina woman.

Swollen creeks and mudslides kept canyon roads closed in Malibu and Azusa, while a rock slide closed Pacific Coast Highway at Point Mugu. In the exclusive west San Fernando Valley community of Hidden Hills, the floor of City Hall was covered with mud, while Long Valley Road--the rustic area’s unpaved, main thoroughfare--was washed out.

In Los Angeles, near MacArthur Park, 17 people were evacuated from an apartment complex and taken by the Red Cross to motels after the dirt sides of an adjoining excavation site collapsed, ripping off a chunk of sidewalk.

“We’re afraid that it will get much worse as new rains come,” said Assistant Fire Chief Alan Schroeder.

In the City of Industry, a 15-square-foot section of roof, weakened by wind and rain, collapsed at a Bullock’s department store warehouse, but no injuries were reported. Nearby, a motorist had to be plucked from the roof of his car after he strayed into windshield-high water along Peck Road.

In adjacent Hacienda Heights, a mucky stream of dirt and water slid into Spencer Keng’s hillside home, requiring the help of about 20 inmates from county fire camps, who dug drainage ditches and placed sandbags.

“It was just a river of mud two feet deep,” said Rena Radnitz, a neighbor. “It was really scary. It was really coming fast.”

As in most crises, the deluge brought out the best and worst in people.

Canyon High School senior Mark White, 17, was standing at the edge of Sand Canyon Wash in Santa Clarita on Monday when he heard an anguished cry for help. Being swept toward him in the swift current was a tiny, white-haired woman named Sally Swanson.

The varsity football player dived into the icy water and grabbed Swanson. They were pulled downstream about 30 yards before he could reach a shrub and lift them to safety.

“The water was raging through there so fast we barely made it,” White said.

In the San Gabriel Mountains, two stranded 17-year-old hikers from Pasadena survived the night without food or shelter after a tiny creek in Eaton Canyon was transformed into a raging river, blocking their path home.

Jon Rosier and Sam Bourounsouzian, friends from Pasadena High School, were rescued by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s helicopter Tuesday morning, scared and soaked--but happy to have survived.

“The whole night we didn’t expect to survive to the next day,” said Bourounsouzian, who said he passed the night singing songs with Rosier. They were wearing jeans, jackets and sweaters. “We found this little tree and cuddled under it,” he said.

But there were also those who sought to take advantage of others’ misfortune.

Police in the San Fernando Valley arrested one man on suspicion of auto burglary in the looting a catering truck that had been submerged in the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area during Monday’s downpour.

Martin Glen Danhi, 26, of Encino was being held in lieu of $5,000 bail after officers noticed a bulge under his shirt. They said they found 14 packs of cigarettes--five of which were soggy.

The area drew dozens of motorists Tuesday who had been forced to abandon their autos after heavy rains flooded the basin and its thoroughfares, which serve as commuter shortcuts.

Most of that water, except for some scattered pools, had ebbed by Tuesday, leaving an ankle-deep layer of mud, silt and debris.

Concrete benches lay tipped on their sides near Burbank Boulevard and Woodley Avenue, apparently carried there by the roaring current of the previous day. Clumps of twigs--and a yellow T-shirt--hung from the taller branches of the eucalyptus trees.

Col. Chuck S. Thomas, who monitors the 60-year-old Sepulveda Dam for the Army Corps of Engineers, noted that the surrounding flood basin performed as designed. Problems occurred because it filled so quickly, he said, the result of unprecedented rains “equivalent to a 100-year event.”

There was disagreement, however, over what time officials received the warning that water was spilling into the streets and that long metal gates sealing the area should be shut. Although the Army Corps says the city was warned at 12:30 p.m., Los Angeles police contend the warning came an hour later--after many motorists already were trapped.

More than a foot of fresh snow has fallen in the Sierra Nevada, but state officials said precipitation in the mountains is still only about 50% of normal.

Contributing to this story were staff writers Leslie Berger, Greg Braxton, Jack Cheevers, Henry Chu, Aaron Curtiss, Lorna Fernandes, Denise Hamilton, Nieson Himmel, Berkley Hudson, Tracey Kaplan, Myron Levin, Robert Moran, Amy Pyle, Ron Russell, John Schwada, Richard Simon and Carol Watson.

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