Light Rain Is Good News for Evacuees : Aftermath: The 4,000 residents in 5 tent cities give sighs of relief. Granada Hills remains the only area lacking water service.

As the threat of rain evaporated and more tap water was pronounced drinkable, San Fernando Valley residents flocked to churches, learned to keep house in National Guard tents and continued tidying up quake-jumbled homes while cringing from additional aftershocks Sunday.

After testing local water supplies, state health officials said residents of North Hollywood, Panorama City, Sunland, Tujunga, Sylmar, Pacoima, Lake View Terrace and Van Nuys no longer need to boil drinking water.

In addition, the last 5,000 Northridge households without water had their service restored, and residents north of Ventura Boulevard in Studio City and Sherman Oaks were advised they can use water straight from the tap.

By the end of the day, Granada Hills was the only Valley community still without water service.

Although meteorologists had predicted a major downpour over the weekend, only small amounts of rain fell briefly on parts of the Valley, bringing sighs of relief to more than 4,000 people crowding into five tent cities erected by National Guard soldiers.

By Sunday night, five aftershocks measuring magnitude 3.0 or greater had rolled across Los Angeles, keeping jolt-weary residents on edge yet another day.

At 8:15 p.m., a 4.5 temblor struck about three miles south of Newhall, according to a Caltech seismologist. That brought the number of aftershocks since Monday’s 6.6 quake to more than 1,500.

Also Sunday, construction crews toiled into the night to put finishing touches on two Metrolink stations in Palmdale and Lancaster. The stations, built in just four days, are intended to ease an anticipated crush of commuters heading out of the Antelope Valley toward Los Angeles this morning.

While there was no rainstorm, doctors staffing clinics at the tent cities said the cool, drizzly weather contributed to some medical problems.

Dr. Dan Grossman, a member of a medical team from UCLA-Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar attending to residents of the tent city at Winnetka Recreation Center, said that in one hour Sunday the team saw 85 patients, many of them children with colds or flu.

“I wouldn’t say it’s an epidemic,” Grossman said, “but it’s very dusty and damp here.”

An infant at the Lanark Recreation Center tent city in Canoga Park was taken to a hospital after apparently choking. The infant was treated and released, as was another child airlifted to Children’s Hospital after suffering minor injuries from a fall at a Salvation Army service center in Van Nuys.

People at the Winnetka tent city were treated to some musical entertainment in the afternoon when a band, complete with electric guitar and congas, struck up a rollicking rendition of “Soy Feliz” (“I’m Happy”). A group of about 40 people clapped and swayed to the music.

But some teen-agers seemed to be suffering from boredom after days of outdoor living. “It’s not much fun,” said a dejected Sandra Ramirez, 14, as she sat in front of a tent at the Winnetka center, munching an apple.

The day also was filled with church services, both indoors and out.

About 35 members of the Voices of Iglesia de Cristo Church went to Reseda Park, singing hymns and dancing to a guitar and tambourine as they motioned for campers in the park to join them.

“Even when things seem bad, the Lord is always there. . .” the church group sang, in Spanish.

Another church group walked into different campsites asking victims if they needed to talk. “We are telling them not to be afraid,” said Juan Salmeron, holding the Bible.

“We are in the same situation as them.”

Salmeron’s group was from Iglesia Christiana Adonai Church in Canoga Park, which was damaged by the earthquake.

One of the most oft-repeated Bible quotations on Sunday was taped to the back of a Salvation Army truck at the tent city at Lanark Recreation Center. It is taken from Psalm 46.

“God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the Earth give way. . .”

Meanwhile, Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony said Mass before thousands of parishioners at damaged churches. At Santa Rosa Church in San Fernando, the church was packed to overflowing but the aisles were kept clear and the doors open in case of an aftershock.

“In the last few days we have had to change our priorities to our family, our health,” Mahony said, as parishioners who were afraid to enter the building knelt outside, praying feverishly, unable to hear him.

“These things have become more important than the loss of a television or other material possessions. . . . From this misery, much good can come.”

At Valley Korean Community Church in Sylmar, a throng of 200 college-aged Korean Americans crowded into a small, 22-pew sanctuary, its concrete ceiling cracked and plaster peeling from the walls.

“God’s intent is not to laugh at us and to have fun with his children,” preached the pastor, John Koh, to an upbeat audience.

“You see, it doesn’t matter if you have a 7.5-earthquake, or if the earth rumbles for the whole year,” Koh said. “Don’t let circumstances rob you of God’s peace.”

In sharp contrast was a sermon given in the same church later in the morning to an older crowd. The disaster, said the Rev. Kevin Shim, was God’s way of awakening and disciplining his children.

“We have sin in our heart,” Shim declared. “If God did this to us, we must turn to God and confess our sins to him.”

In Northridge, the partially collapsed Northridge Meadows apartment building where 16 residents died Monday remained off limits to survivors wanting to salvage their remaining possessions.

City building inspectors were devising a plan to shore up the building with heavy timber supports before letting people in, a process that may take several days.

Some residents refused to wait for permission to retrieve such necessities as money, identification and a change of clothes. One unidentified man snuck in under the yellow police tape and entered the condemned building, only to be detained and later released by police officers early Sunday, said Morris Reaves, an engineer with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.

Richard Glantz, 27, was one of the impatient ones. Since the disaster occurred, Glantz said he has crawled past National Guardsmen eight times to get into his girlfriend Julie Rush’s second-story apartment to retrieve possessions and to videotape the damage.

“I’m not risking my life,” said Glantz, who said he earned about $300 by selling the videotape to news stations.

City building inspectors did allow residents access to some units in the apartment complex next door, the Northridge Apartments.

Times staff writers David Colker, John Dart, Chip Johnson, Sonia Nazario and Timothy Williams, and correspondents Kay Hwangbo and Jeannette Regalado contributed to this story.