Storm Lashes Area, Triggers Slides, Floods

Another powerful storm hammered Southern California with heavy rain Monday, triggering mudslides and floods that battered buildings, blocked highways, swallowed automobiles and swept a farm worker to his death in a rain-swollen creek in Ventura County.

At the Mexican border, the bodies of three earlier flood victims were recovered, raising to at least eight the number who have drowned there this winter in a fast-moving river channel while trying to cross into the United States.

Overflowing drains spilled sewage that forced the closure of beaches on Santa Monica Bay on Monday, and a collapsing storm drain gouged a sinkhole in Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles the size of a garbage truck.

Cyclonic winds shattered car windows and tore away part of the showroom roof at an auto dealership in Brea.

Rockslides, flooded intersections and accidents on slippery pavement fouled streets and freeways across the area, slowing morning commuter traffic to a crawl.

Runoff from hillside canyons poured into subterranean garages in Beverly Hills, inundating scores of luxury cars. Rain damage to an apartment complex in the Rampart area that was undergoing roof repairs forced the evacuation of more than 100 residents.

The body of a 49-year-old Ventura County man was found tangled in branches late Monday about half a mile downstream from where the floodwaters of Conejo Creek had swept him from a tractor.

The drowned man, identified as Jose C. Valdivia Romero of Oxnard, and a co-worker, Angel Magdaleno Barrios, 64, had been working on an agricultural field adjacent to the creek, said Sandi Wells, a county Fire Department spokeswoman.

“They were on a tractor, and the tractor overturned and went into the creek,” she said. “The water was high enough that it covered the tractor. When firefighters got on scene they found one person clinging to a tree.”

The firefighters were able to rescue Barrios, who was holding onto the tree. The other man’s body was found about five hours later.

Health officials in Los Angeles County declared beaches from Pacific Palisades to the Palos Verdes Peninsula off limits Monday after the heavy rains overloaded sewer lines, causing 3.5 million gallons of partially treated sewage to be dumped into Santa Monica Bay.

Nearly 20 million gallons of sewage has spilled into the bay since rainstorms began raking the area last month, officials said.

Monday’s spill occurred after sewage was diverted from the new North Outfall Replacement Sewer into Ballona Creek to keep waste water from overwhelming the city’s antiquated Hyperion Treatment Plant near Playa del Rey, officials said.

Amid much fanfare, city officials recently opened the $115-million sewer line between the Crenshaw district and Hyperion.

The new line, which can carry up to 850 million gallons a day during a major rainstorm, was supposed to end the dumping of sewage into the bay. But because extensive improvements to the plant have not been completed, the facility cannot process more than 680 million gallons a day, officials said.

In Hollywood, a section of Fairfax Avenue collapsed shortly after midnight--leaving a hole 15 feet wide, 25 feet long and 10 feet deep--when an old storm drain gave way under the pressure of the heavy runoff surging through it.

“Hell of a hole. (You could) park a car in there,” said Jean DeCrias, who took a few moments from his job to check out the sinkhole.

John Schiller, general manager of the construction company that started excavating sewer lines in the area in August, said the drain should be repaired and the hole filled in within a day or two.

At the nearby Beverly Center, workers used big vacuum machines to suck off the last of the runoff water that mall general manager Larry Beermann said flooded the underground parking garage “up as high as the windows on cars” during the night.

“There was no time to drive out,” Joe DeCarlo said, describing how the water inundated his new Lexus. “It had only 1,134 miles on it--it’s totaled.”

Peter White, a Beverly Hills resident, said he was momentarily trapped in his car as the water surged down La Cienega Boulevard and into the garage.

“You don’t expect this in Beverly Hills, not in this area,” he said. “These sorts of things are supposed to happen elsewhere.”

Garages beneath buildings on Gale Drive in Beverly Hills also were flooded.

In the Rampart area of Los Angeles, about 100 residents of an apartment complex were evacuated to a temporary Red Cross shelter in Echo Park after the heavy rains caused extensive damage.

A section of the roof was missing and covered with plastic tarps because the building was undergoing extensive earthquake renovation. Heavy rain caused the collapse of the plastic and water crashed through the 29-unit, three-story apartment complex in the 600 block of South Coronado Street.

“Kids were running everywhere. It was pandemonium,” said Walter Newman, 34, who has lived in the building about two years. “I’m still in a state of shock,” he said. “It just dawned om me I have no home.”

Mudslides and fallen trees blocked several heavily traveled canyon roads above West Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, forcing morning commuters to seek alternate routes that quickly were overloaded with traffic.

What is usually a 10-minute trip down Benedict Canyon from Mulholland Drive to Beverly Hills became an hourlong test of patience.

Even on the open routes, rocks, mud and tree limbs littered the pavement. Along one stretch of Benedict Canyon, a mudslide buried the northbound lanes almost three feet deep. Most cars drove up and over the hump and kept on going.

An accident during a heavy rain squall injured three people and closed the eastbound lanes of the Pomona Freeway in the Diamond Bar area for two hours Monday morning.

The California Highway Patrol said a truck driver lost control of his big rig just east of Phillips Ranch Road and crashed into a pickup truck and a van that were parked on the shoulder after being involved in an earlier, minor accident. Officers said the impact shoved the van into an unoccupied CHP motorcycle, pushing the bike under a CHP car.

In the Riverside County city of Corona, at least three people received minor injuries in a 23-vehicle smashup in the westbound lanes of the rain-slick Riverside Freeway, the CHP said. It took several hours to clear the wreckage.

In San Bernardino County, washouts from rain-swollen Lytle Creek and Cajon Creek cut Devore Road near Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass area. Residents of about a dozen homes were stranded, but officials said they were not in danger.

Southern Pacific Railroad freight service from Los Angeles to points east was disrupted for at least a day when runoff from Devore Creek washed out a 240-foot section of rail bed in San Bernardino. Southern Pacific spokeswoman Carolynne Born said repairs should be completed by this afternoon.

In Orange County, tornado-like winds ripped through a car dealership in Brea, damaging a roof and several cars, but causing no injuries.

“What we saw was a big funnel cloud,” said Scott Tassone, sales manager at Brea Nissan. “It sounded like thunder. It made the ground shake.”

The storm caused only minor damage in San Diego County and Tijuana, a region still recovering from destructive mudslides last month that left dozens dead and thousands homeless south of the border.

No new injuries or major damage were reported in Tijuana on Monday, but thenumber of illegal immigrants who have drowned trying to cross the storm-swollen Tijuana River Levee into U.S. territory continued to rise.

Horseback riders discovered the bodies of two men floating in the flood control channel Sunday afternoon. Mexican authorities identified one as Hector Hernandez, 43, of Puebla, Mexico, who was swept away by the current a week ago as he and his wife attempted to ford the channel using a cable strung across the water.

The other body remained unidentified, as did a third body found by Mexican police in the channel just south of the international boundary.

At least eight people have drowned at the U.S.-Mexico border since the rains began a month ago. About a dozen migrants have been rescued from the channel. Another 18 migrants remain missing, some of them apparently last seen as they struggled in waters that are up to five-feet deep.

In San Diego County, the storm caused minor street flooding, fallen trees and power outages that inconvenienced about 40,000 customers. In addition, the roof of a vacant business in San Diego collapsed, city emergency officials said.

Officials said that 2.29 inches of rain fell at the Los Angeles Civic Center between 4 p.m. Sunday and 4 p.m. Monday, raising the season’s total there to 19.52 inches. The normal season’s total for the date is 8.72 inches.

Other 24-hour totals included 5.95 inches at Lake Arrowhead, 4.41 at Mt. Wilson, 4.04 in Culver City, 3.72 in Woodland Hills, 3.50 in Newhall, 3.20 in Pasadena, 3.12 in Ventura, 3.02 in Redondo Beach, 2.43 in El Toro, 2.22 in Monrovia, 1.51 in Newport Beach, 1.22 in Santa Ana and 0.98 of an inch in Palm Springs.

“The heaviest stuff is over,” Steve Burback, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., said Monday night.

He said there is a chance of a few light showers today, with partly cloudy skies tonight and Wednesday, followed by generally clear weather on Thursday and Friday.

Contributing to this story were Times staff writers Consella Lee, Fred Muir and Ron Russell in Los Angeles, Tom Gorman in Riverside County, Sebastian Rotella in San Diego County, and Stephanie Simon in Ventura County. Malnic reported from Los Angeles and Davis from Ventura County.

Southland Rain Watch

Rainfall figures for the 24-hour period ending at 4 p.m. Monday. Season totals and norms are based on precipitation from July 1 to date. L.A. BASIN:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Avalon/Catalina 1.30 1.30 15.46 6.93 Culver City 4.04 4.10 20.00 7.64 Long Beach 1.50 1.50 17.40 7.52 L.A. Civic Center 2.29 2.29 19.52 8.72 L.A. Int’l Airport 2.72 2.72 18.79 7.00 Montebello 2.30 2.30 18.95 7.50 Santa Monica 1.78 1.80 12.64 7.32 Torrance 2.40 2.40 18.28 7.81 UCLA 5.60 5.60 22.86 9.52

*VALLEYS/CANYONS:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Beaumont 3.70 3.70 28.05 8.98 Monrovia 2.22 2.24 28.55 NA Pasadena 3.20 3.20 23.65 11.36 Riverside 1.57 1.62 15.76 5.92 San Bernardino 2.43 2.59 15.06 9.50 San Gabriel 2.30 2.30 25.08 9.82 Santa Clarita 3.50 3.56 22.42 9.95 Woodland Hills 3.72 3.79 21.94 9.36

*ORANGE COUNTY:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Anaheim 1.36 1.36 17.08 NA Irvine 2.14 2.14 8.08 NA Lake Forest 2.43 2.43 20.02 NA Newport Beach 1.51 1.51 15.43 6.56 San Juan Cap. 2.30 2.30 19.70 NA Santa Ana 1.22 1.26 18.15 7.61

*SAN DIEGO COUNTY:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Chula Vista 0.55 0.57 9.28 5.44 Del Mar 1.65 1.65 13.27 NA Oceanside 0.95 0.95 12.09 5.86 San Diego 1.28 1.28 13.22 5.99 Vista 1.45 1.49 14.01 7.57 El Cajon 1.05 1.05 11.98 7.32 Escondido 1.90 1.90 21.46 9.31 Poway 2.08 2.13 18.45 7.17

*SOUTHLAND MOUNTAINS:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Big Bear Lake 2.95 2.96 32.15 13.95 Mt. Laguna 3.17 3.27 37.82 NA Mt. Wilson 4.41 4.74 41.03 19.82 Palomar Mtn. 3.52 3.70 56.62 15.51

*DESERTS:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Bishop 0.14 0.14 1.41 3.50 Death Valley 0.35 0.35 0.93 1.16 Borrego Springs 0.88 0.88 12.12 4.24 El Centro 0.51 0.51 5.90 2.05 Palm Springs 0.98 0.98 10.57 4.12 Thermal 0.68 0.68 4.00 2.21

*SANTA BARBARA/VENTURA:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Ojai 2.40 2.40 28.78 11.53 Oxnard 2.29 2.29 11.03 8.19 Santa Barbara 0.99 1.16 13.61 9.65 Santa Paula 2.38 2.38 18.10 10.04 Ventura 3.12 3.22 17.47 7.64

*SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Bakersfield 0.55 0.55 6.29 3.02

NA indicates figures not available. In other cases, some totals may be incomplete because of missing station reports.

* Amount of rainfall since the last zero-precipitation day.

SOURCE: National Weather Service and WeatherData Inc.