Heavy Rains Take Toll on Lives, Property and Roads in Region

The barrage of storms that have pelted the San Gabriel Valley eased this week after delivering a tail-end wallop that claimed at least one life, felled trees and sent hillsides slipping.

As the sun finally re-emerged Tuesday to reveal snow-capped mountain peaks, repair crews stepped up their work on damaged highways, some Hacienda Heights residents shored up their homes to ward off a slipping embankment, and the Santa Anita Park racetrack in Arcadia closed to give horses a chance to train after two weeks of relentless rain.

The final storms to strike the region from Friday evening through Monday dumped 8.3 inches of rain at the U.S. Forest Service East Fork Station, on the east fork of the San Gabriel River, Forest Service spokesman Frank Antos said, bringing the total for the year to 38 inches.

And it was the storms’ final punch that claimed the life of one man and left another missing and presumed dead.

A 25-year-old Upland man, hiking with a friend, slipped into rain-swollen Baldy Creek on Sunday evening and was swept over a 40-foot waterfall about three miles north of Mount Baldy Road and Shinn Road, said Sheriff’s Sgt. David Rash.

The fierce rains forced rescue workers to suspend the search for Mark Rubio at 2:30 a.m. Monday, but crews on a limited search had failed to find him by Wednesday afternoon.

The water was raging at about 45 m.p.h. when Rubio slipped into the creek, Rash said.

“The family, of course, is holding onto every possible hope that some miracle will occur,” Rash said but he added that it is unlikely Rubio survived.

“The rain and weather have just created havoc in the mountains,” Rash said. “Too often, people from the flatlands don’t realize how treacherous the mountains can be.

“This young man was dressed in a T-shirt, shorts and tennis shoes. The temperatures were already in the upper 30s, and if he got wet, we’re talking hypothermia for sure.”

Meanwhile, a 22-year-old Diamond Bar man died after he disappeared into the rain-swollen Santa Clara River basin near Acton while trying to retrieve his four-wheel drive vehicle, which had gotten stuck Sunday.

Antelope Valley Sheriff’s Deputy Joanne Sharp said Oscar Rodriguez, 22, went into the water Monday evening and never rejoined his friends.

The water was eight feet deep in places, she said.

“Someone said they would cover (his vehicle) up with branches, so nobody would try to vandalize it, but I guess he decided to go back and get it,” she said.

Rodriguez’s body was recovered Wednesday near his vehicle, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department said the storms’ last sweep brought in a deluge of calls.

Although only two of the 22 swift-water rescue calls in Los Angeles County came from the San Gabriel Valley, nearly half of the 97 flooding calls did, said Inspector Devin Trone.

Of 345 accidents countywide, 97 occurred in the San Gabriel Valley, he added.

In the aftermath of the rains, crews for the state Department of Transportation steadily worked this week to reopen California 39 and a stretch of Angeles Crest Highway buried by mountains of mud and rock loosened by torrential rains.

Caltrans crews also worked around the clock in hopes of reopening by Friday the Linda Vista Avenue off-ramp from the Ventura Freeway (134), which was eroded by the forceful rains, a Caltrans spokesman said.

Throughout Los Angeles and Ventura counties, Caltrans spent an estimated $2.2 million to repair damage caused by the storms, said Caltrans spokeswoman Pat Reid.

In the San Gabriel Valley, Caltrans foothill region manager Chuck Webster said he hadn’t begun to tally the costs in overtime and equipment.

“My crews have been working 24 hours a day basically since New Year’s because of slides and mud and freeway problems,” Webster said. “The last time I can remember it this bad, I was in Malibu, in 1979 and 1980.”

California 39 was closed because of a mudslide near Morris Dam on Jan. 14 and was expected to reopen Wednesday, Webster said.

There were two mudslides on Angeles Crest Highway at La Canada Flintridge, north of the Foothill Freeway (210), which sent commuters headed for Palmdale and Lancaster on a major detour.

“That’s a big commute route. It’s a hell of a problem,” Webster said. He expected the highway would reopen late Wednesday.

Some of the material that slid onto Angeles Crest Highway was being used to repair the Linda Vista Avenue off-ramp, said Le Morgan, Caltrans manager for the metro region.

“This is the worst rain and the worst flooding we’ve had, and lots of things that are weak break down when we get heavy rains,” Morgan said.

“The way it was raining yesterday, I could see the pressure that was mounting on there. It was lucky we caught it when we caught it.”

In Hacienda Heights, several residents shored up their yards Monday with sandbags to ward off encroaching mud from a slipping hillside that sent one back deck crashing into a gully.

The wooden deck broke off from a home in the 3000 block of Cardillo Avenue, sending mud into two back yards below.

“The people right around the corner are having all the problems. My husband was up there a lot of the day (Monday) just trying to keep the mud out of the yard,” said Marilyn Roach, whose neighbor on Decima Drive recruited her husband to help haul sandbags.

The damage to the Hacienda Heights neighborhood was limited to a few houses, Roach said.

At the Huntington Library in San Marino, workers mourned the loss of a 200-year-old friend--a mesa oak tree that had become a community landmark.

The toppled tree’s 135-foot canopy had shaded many generations of visitors to the library and gallery over the generations, spokeswoman Lisa Blackburn said.

“It was like losing a member of the family,” she said.

The storms made history at the Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia as well, marking the first time in 40 years that a race was canceled because of bad weather, spokeswoman Jane Goldstein said.

Santa Anita had to return $300,000 in wagers when they canceled their ninth race Sunday.

Jockeys refused to ride on the eroded track, which was partially washed away after a fierce deluge.

The time taken to repair the track has meant less time for the horses to train, Goldstein added, so the track was closed Wednesday and will remain closed today for training.

In the mountains, the storms may have brought good news to snow lovers, said Antos of the Forest Service.

In the Mt. Baldy area, Crystal Lake received a foot of snow over the weekend, he said, and there is new snow at Mt. Baldy Village.

Forest Service crews continued to survey trails during the week for storm damage, Antos added. Some trails may have been washed out by flooded streams or covered in rock and mudslides, he said.

“We’re telling people on roads to just beware of rocks and other debris coming down, and avoid trails at water crossings as all streams are running full and fast,” he said.