At Least 5 Killed as Floods Sweep Through Southland : Storm: Downpour swells rivers and washes out roads, prompting daring rescues. Tornado hits Orange County.

At least five people were killed and dozens were rescued as a winter storm continued its onslaught on Southern California with widespread flooding, gale force winds and a tornado that touched down in Orange County, authorities said Sunday.

Among the dead were four members of one family who were trapped in their pickup truck and drowned, and a 66-year-old man who tried to cross a rain-swollen wash in Riverside County. In Tijuana, a mother and her son were reported missing and possibly drowned after they leaped from a bridge into the swollen torrent to avoid an oncoming train.

Five people were plucked by helicopter from the roof of a van that was stranded in a creek in the San Fernando Valley. A 17-year-old boy who was swept into an Agoura Hills creek was dramatically rescued after he was found clinging to a concrete bridge abutment.

Coast Guard officials in San Diego reported Sunday that they had rescued 90 people in the preceding 24 hours.

Despite a brief morning letup in the downpour, Southland communities braced for a new storm that threatened to dump several more inches of rain by this afternoon.

Many roads throughout Southern California remained closed by rising water and mudslides, the National Guard was called in to aid parts of Riverside County, Camp Pendleton was closed, and more than 1,000 people were evacuated in Tijuana as rains continued in the wettest January since 1969.

“There is still a threat (of flooding),” said Steve Burback, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. About one-half to two inches of rain are likely to hit Los Angeles by this afternoon, with two to four inches expected in the mountains, Burback said. However, he predicted that the battered region would see sunshine from Tuesday through Friday.

More than 10 inches of rain have inundated Los Angeles in January, bringing the season total to more than 15 inches, more than double the normal of 6.2 inches.

Floodwaters were so strong in the Riverside county town of Temecula, said resident Sharon Vogt, that “we had to carry the babies upstairs. We sandbagged the front door, but the water was coming in faster than we could bail it out.”

A tornado ripped through a residential section of the Orange County community of Lake Forest shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday, tearing shingles from roofs, uprooting trees and scattering debris over a several-block area stretching into Irvine, police said.

County fire officials reported no injuries, but a caller to a local television news program said that a neighbor had been slightly injured when she was lifted into the air by strong winds after stepping out of her automobile.

On the outskirts of Temecula early Sunday, rescue workers found the bodies of a 31-year-old man, his wife, 20, their 3-year-old daughter and a 26-year-old man in their battered pickup truck. The family apparently decided to ford a rain-swollen creek on a winding foothill road on Saturday, but the truck was swept away.

“A friend who was watching said the truck washed away instantly down the creek about 100 feet. It covered the pickup,” said Joanne Evans, a spokeswoman for the Riverside County Fire Department.

Evans said the fifth member of the family--a 6-week-old baby boy who was swept from the truck’s cab--was missing. The only sign rescue workers found of the infant was a diaper bag filled with formula and diapers.

Several San Fernando Valley residents were more fortunate. Five passengers of a van that was trapped in a creek in Little Tujunga Canyon were able to clamber to the van’s roof as waters swirled up to the vehicle’s hood, said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Steve Valenzuela. About three-dozen firefighters and two helicopters helped rescue the people in about half an hour. One passenger, a 16-year-old girl, was flown to Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale for treatment of lower back pains and a possible fractured hip.

In Canyon Country, residents of a trailer park found themselves cut off after the rains washed out a section of the earthen bridge that crosses the Santa Clara River into their community. Several cars were parked along Soledad Canyon Road, unable to cross the river that had risen and spilled over the crossing.

“The river normally goes under, but now it’s going over,” said Betty Hernandez, 52.

Firefighters rescued Craig Sport, 17, in Agoura Hills after he was swept away by the rain-swollen waters of a flood-control channel and rescued by firefighters after he managed to catch hold of and hang onto a concrete bridge abutment, fire officials said.

Sport was walking along Medea Creek and tried to cross the culvert when he was swept away by the current, Los Angeles County Fire Department Supervisor Clyde Taylor said.

The youth was swept downstream about 100 yards when he caught hold of a concrete abutment, Taylor said. Firefighters, alerted to the situation shortly after 12:30 p.m., were able to rescue the teen-ager about 45 minutes later.

Sport suffered minor hypothermia but no injuries, Taylor said. He was taken for treatment to Westlake Community Hospital.

In southwestern Riverside County, the National Guard was sent in to help residents of Temecula, Murrieta and Canyon Lake when creeks spilled over their banks. Temecula officials declared a local state of emergency Saturday as the waters of Murrieta Creek, which runs through the historic Old Town district, overflowed.

The force of the water rushing down Front Street uprooted small trees, knocked over fences, flattened street signs and knocked one shop off its foundation.

By 10:30 p.m. Saturday, several antique shops that line Front Street were flooded as waters rose two to three feet. Becky Groff, who owns a gift store in the historic Long Branch Saloon, said she was forced to flee about 10 p.m. She said she was able to save several dolls worth about $5,000 each.

By Sunday afternoon, the waters had receded and merchants, Department of Forestry officials and city workers were busy shoveling mud. The district remained off limits to the public.

Murrieta Creek flows into the Santa Margarita River south of Temecula, and the river shut down operations at Camp Pendleton as Coast Guard helicopters, lifeguards and the base Fire Department worked to rescue dozens of people stranded by flooding that put parts of the base under as much as 10 feet of water.

“This is (usually) dry ground, but these are very wet operations,” said camp spokeswoman Laurie Brewer, explaining the involvement of the Coast Guard and the lifeguards in the rescue.

Several hundred people among the 35,000 base residents were evacuated from their homes Saturday night and were unable to return Sunday. The base’s main airstrip was under four feet of water at one point, and temporary buildings were moved more than 100 feet by floodwaters rushing at 25 m.p.h., Brewer said.

The historic ranch and chapel at the residence of Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of California, were also damaged, and parts of the base became islands isolated by flooded roads. Water was being rationed and people were urged to drink bottled water because of fears that the camp water supply was contaminated.

Elsewhere in San Diego County, 450 residents who fled rising waters were registered at three American Red Cross shelters Saturday night. In east Oceanside, the surging San Luis Rey River ripped away a 250-yard stretch of North River Road, threatening a subdivision called the Colonies.

On Sunday, San Diego roads “too numerous to mention” were closed by flooding, said Ed Lynch, a civilian supervisor at the Sheriff’s Department. An unidentified motorist or motorists were reported missing at 2 a.m. after witnesses saw a car drive through a police barricade and over the washed out part of North River Road, Oceanside police Sgt. Ernest Ullery said Sunday.

“The taillights disappearing in the river was the last anyone saw of it,” Ullery said. Oceanside police believe that they have spotted the car in the swollen river but will not be able to retrieve it until the waters recede.

Flood damage in San Diego was estimated at $10 million to private property and $5 million to roads and other public property.

In Los Angeles County, floodwaters damaged property and closed some streets, and rain forced cancellation of the ninth and last scheduled race at Santa Anita racetrack Sunday.

Flood devastation continued in Mexico, where 25 people have died in Tijuana. About 1,200 residents living near the Rodriguez Dam area were evacuated Saturday and Sunday with the aid of Coast Guard helicopters, raising to 5,500 the number of residents living in about 40 temporary shelters.

About 150 miles south of Tijuana, near San Quintin, about 200 American and Canadian tourists remained stranded Sunday by washouts on Highway 1, the main north-south artery in Baja California, the Associated Press reported. Some had been unable to leave the area for 11 days, a U.S. Embassy official said.

“Exasperated is a gentle term for what they’re going through,” Vice Consul Edward Stafford said by telephone Sunday from San Quintin. “They’re running out of patience.”

The Mexican army has supplied them with food, coffee and drinking water, Stafford said.

Matthew Arnold of West Los Angeles said in a telephone interview that he and his friends had been stranded for seven days before their car was towed by tractor across a river.

“You put your car in neutral and they pull you across, and (the water) is lapping at your windows,” he said.

About 60 cars have been towed by private tractors, the Associated Press reported. Some of those stranded in San Quintin had made a six-day drive over often-flooded roads from Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula, said Arnold, who was in Baja California on a surfing trip. He and his friends were able to get food from stranded trucks unable to deliver their cargoes of bell peppers and fresh fish.

Gorman reported from Riverside County and Moffat from Los Angeles. Staff writers Tina Griego and Nora Zamichow in Los Angeles, Chris Kraul in San Diego, Henry Chu in the San Fernando Valley, and Mark Landsbaum and Marla Cone in Orange County contributed to this story.

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