Another Storm Due Today in Southland : Weather: Less rain is expected this time, but large swells will continue pounding coast.

Southern California received a sunny respite from the rain Thursday, but a second, weaker storm was expected to move in today--bringing more chilly weather, rain and wind.

The latest storm was expected to arrive by this afternoon, with showers ending by early evening, the National Weather Service said. Unusually large swells of up to 10 feet were expected to continue pounding the coastline for the next several days, meteorologists said.

In Ventura County, where Wednesday’s storm washed away 420 feet of the landmark Ventura Pier, up to half an inch of rain was predicted, said Bob Cari of the National Weather Service.

“It will be a more stable system,” Cari said. “We’re looking at less rains.”

Sometime after Wednesday’s storm passed through, a minor mudslide occurred in an unpopulated area just north of the seaside community of La Conchita, north of Ventura near the Santa Barbara County line, Ventura County sheriff’s officials said. No one was injured and no property was damaged.

However, the rains, which left a brown trail of mud through the center of several La Conchita streets, have led many residents to flee the neighborhood. A landslide in the area last year destroyed several homes.

“There’s a lot of nervous people out there,” said Deputy A.C. Quintero of the sheriff’s department’s mobile unit in La Conchita. “This place became a ghost town as soon as it started raining. A lot of residents are wondering what is going to happen right now.”

In Thousand Oaks on Thursday, Mayor Andy Fox and other residents cleaned up their disheveled yards and surveyed damage after heavy winds damaged roofs and knocked down trees and fences in several neighborhoods.

“It looked like a war zone,” Fox said. “Some shingles got blown off our roof, and my wife said she saw the patio chairs slam against the sliding glass doors. The whole neighborhood was a mess.”

Bill Wiles, music director for the United Methodist Church in Thousand Oaks, said he was in the choir building adjoining the church about 7 p.m. Wednesday when he heard a tremendous rattling sound. In less than a minute, winds sheared off about a fourth of the building’s roof, he said.

“It sounded like a giant vacuum cleaner,” Wiles said. “I’m not from the Midwest, but I thought we had a tornado.

“It happened so fast,” he added. “I came out and looked around and said, ‘Whoa, this had to be big.’ ”

Cari of the National Weather Service said that thunderstorms may have produced unusually stiff winds in Thousand Oaks, but no tornado had rolled through the city.

“There were some strong winds in the area, and that could have done the damage, but we did not have reports of a wind funnel or a tornado,” he said.

In Los Angeles County, temporary shelters opened at 22 sites, offering the homeless short-term protection from the weather.

“Each participant receives much more than a place to sleep at night,” said Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority spokesman James Bolden. “In addition to providing temporary relief from the elements, the shelters serve dinner and breakfast, work to help solve problems, provide job information, perform health screenings and provide showers and safety.”

In Orange County, the first storm of the season washed tons of trash and even some telephone poles out to sea, where surfers dodged lobster traps ripped free by the surf.

The storm also pushed ashore in Huntington Beach the remaining stern section of the fishing vessel “Bright Star,” which capsized the night of Nov. 20, killing one man.

During the storm’s peak on Wednesday, 10- to 12-foot breakers dislodged as many as a dozen lobster traps, large metal cages connected to buoy markers with thick rope or lines.

Huntington Beach Lifeguard Lt. Michael Beuerlein said lifeguards on motorized water skis busily removed them as six-foot waves continued to crash on the beach.

“The traps are dangerous,” Beuerlein said, “because when they get inside the surf line, the surfers have a tendency to get tangled up in the lines. Some surfers in San Diego County have drowned after getting tangled up by them.”

Storms routinely loosen “about five or six traps,” Beuerlein said. “But this storm generated such large surf that we had twice that much.”

The traps, a few telephone poles washed into the ocean from the San Gabriel River, 2-by-4s and other debris did not stop surfers from braving the water.

Rick Andino, 37, of Fountain Valley said he has surfed all over the world, and the waves that broke on Wednesday in Orange County rivaled those in Hawaii.

“It breaks like that only about once in five years here,” said Andino, who was surfing with a small pack of expert surfers at Seal Beach’s south jetty. “It was big, but it was good.”

Times staff writer David Reyes contributed to this story.