Spring Storm Chases Easter Services Inside

Easter dawned Sunday looking a lot like Christmas as snowfall from an unusual spring storm closed the Antelope Valley Freeway and rain chased traditional sunrise worship services indoors.

In an Agua Dulce mobile home park, one of Christianity’s holiest day’s was heralded by the crash of giant tree limbs, ripped from their trunks by the weight of four inches of wet snow. “Everywhere you looked, trees were falling,” said Richard Stanton, a resident of the Hacienda Vasquez Mobile Home Park.

Spring officially started nearly a month ago, but the unseasonable storm dusted areas from Canyon Country to La Crescenta and left the San Gabriel and Tehachapi mountains capped in white down to the 1,500-foot level.

By 3 p.m. the temperature had reached only 48 degrees in Van Nuys, 49 in Burbank and 46 in Lancaster.

“This is an unusually cold storm for (Southern California) this late in the season,” said meteorologist Curtis Brack of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. The Antelope Valley Freeway was closed for more than 2 1/2 hours during the middle of the day as road crews scrambled to clear up to six inches of snow. “There’s a lot of ice on the roadway too, because it rained just before it snowed,” making driving especially hazardous, said California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Kerri Hawkins.

Traffic backed up until the freeway was reopened about 2 p.m.

Icy conditions made driving hazardous on other highways leading into and out of Los Angeles as well. The CHP received about 420 reports of accidents or other roadway problems in Los Angeles County, more than triple the number for a typical Sunday, Hawkins said.

Power outages were reported in North Hollywood, Reseda, Canoga Park, Westlake and Chatsworth, said Mindy Berman of the city’s Department of Water and Power. Power was restored to most homes and businesses by afternoon.

Sunday’s storm began moving into the desert areas east of Los Angeles by late afternoon, but another is due Tuesday and a third on Thursday. “They’re just kind of lined up coming out of the Gulf of Alaska,” said meteorologist Brack, adding that the upcoming storms are expected to be weaker than Sunday’s.

While the wet, blustery weather played havoc with some Easter-morning institutions, organizers of the well-known Hollywood Bowl Sunrise Services were feeling blessed. They had already scheduled their event to take place at the Women’s Club of Hollywood due to renovations at the bowl.

“We must have been doing something right,” said Norma Foster, who produced the services. “To have spent all that money to put it on and to have canceled it would have been terrible.”

This year’s scaled-back services attracted more than 300 people, a fraction of the thousands who typically turn out for the event at the entertainment venue. The rain itself could have been a blessing, Foster said, “because if it hadn’t rained, we probably would have had to turn people away.”

Outdoor services at several Forest Lawn cemeteries were moved indoors, a spokeswoman said, as was a rooftop breakfast at a Downtown mission.

In Orange County, the inclement weather scuttled some holiday traditions that couldn’t be salvaged. Easter Sunday typically brings throngs of picnickers to Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley and other parks throughout the county. But the rain, wind and cold conspired to keep celebrants inside Sunday, law enforcement officials said.

The First Southern Baptist Church’s sunrise service, scheduled at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, also was canceled because of the rain.

But the scattered showers that continued throughout the day didn’t dash spirits.

“The rain can’t dampen it. The weather cannot defeat it,” said the Rev. David F. Lehmberg, pastor at Christ Church by the Sea in Newport Beach, as he asked worshipers to embrace their faith.

And back in Agua Dulce, when the tree limbs started toppling--one narrowly missing a man as it crashed into his kitchen, according to witnesses--resident Stanton knew where to turn for help. He rushed to the Santa Clarita Vineyard Fellowship, meeting nearby at Valencia High School.

“They were having Easter services and I went in and said, ‘We need your help. We need chain saws, four-wheel-drives and manpower. This is an emergency,’ ” Stanton recalled.

A half-dozen or so parishioners responded.

Slater reported from the San Fernando Valley and Boyer from Los Angeles. Staff writer Rene Lynch in Orange County contributed to this report.