Readying for the Next Round

Orange County Supervisors declared a state of emergency Tuesday as damage estimates from the weekend’s El Nino-related storm reached $13.3 million and were expected to continue rising.

The resolution calls on Gov. Pete Wilson to issue a similar declaration so the county can apply for state aid. Supervisors heard firsthand Tuesday how the storm battered the county and exceeded 100-year flood conditions in three South County cities: Lake Forest, Mission Viejo and Laguna Beach, where residents were still mopping up and digging out from under mud and debris.

John W. Sibley, county director of public facilities, said the county will not wait for state aid. He has ordered repair work, which the county hopes will be completed before the season’s next storm hits.

In the wake of the storm, skies are expected to remain mostly clear for the next several days, with unseasonably warm afternoon temperatures. No rain is expected in the immediate days ahead, weather forecasters said.

Sibley said the repair work will be done “as we can, regardless of whether we can get the [state] money. The reality of it is that we have to do it now. We don’t want to have unrepaired storm channels sitting there and have more water coming down.”

A spokesman at Gov. Pete Wilson’s office said the request was being reviewed by the Office of Emergency Services.

The board’s vote, which drew little discussion, ratified a local emergency proclamation made at 1 p.m. Saturday. The intense storm dumped 7 inches of rain or more in Laguna Beach and other South County cities, delivering nearly half their annual rainfall in a 24-hour period.

In especially hard-hit areas, such as a Huntington Beach mobile home park, residents were evacuated by boat. Canyon homes were deluged with sliding mud, and overwhelmed drainage systems sent raw sewage, mud and garbage rushing into the ocean.

More than 310 county workers, including park department staff, clocked at least 2,000 hours of overtime handling such emergency duties as removing cars from swollen creeks, shoring up storm channel banks, and removing mud and debris.

Meanwhile, in Newport Beach, city workers Tuesday were still cleaning tons of garbage, trees, leaves and other debris that bobbed and clogged Newport Harbor.

“Most of Orange County drains here so we get the brunt of what is in those systems,” City Manager Kevin Murphy said.

Murphy said the debris must be cleaned by Dec. 17, the first night of the city’s annual Christmas Boat Parade. In addition, officials are worried that an expected 6.8-foot high tide Saturday will push tons of debris now floating just offshore onto city beaches.

“Some debris has already washed up at Corona del Mar and Pirate’s Cove, and we expect that to continue until Saturday,” said David Neiderhaus, the city’s general services director.

Beach-goers are warned not to touch or walk through the debris. In the past, snakes and other animals have been discovered hiding among the garbage tossed ashore.

Already, 7 1/2 miles of coastline between Laguna Beach and San Clemente was ordered closed because of sewage runoff from overtaxed pumping stations. An additional half-mile of beach, adjacent to El Moro Trailer Park north of Laguna Beach, was closed Tuesday after it was discovered the storm washed out the park’s sewer system.

In Laguna Beach, residents of Sun Valley, one of the hardest hit neighborhoods along Laguna Canyon Road, attended an emergency meeting of the City Council on Tuesday night to discuss rain damage.

Kelly Boyd, owner of the Marine Room Tavern in Laguna Beach, told the council: “If we get more of this, we’ll be devastated. I can see some businesses that will have to move out of the downtown district.”

Earlier Tuesday, Laguna Beach resident Sandy Bush said she had briefly been swept along a street by the force of the flooding. She suffered sore ribs and a bruised liver. She still carries the mark of tire tracks across her body, which occurred when she collided with a motorcycle that was also swept away by the rushing waters.

Bush’s house is marked with mud and water damage, and many of her belongings are nothing more than a soggy mess. The kennel she operates with her husband, Joel, next to their home is shut down for at least a week.

One of 13 dogs at the kennel, a client’s Yorkshire Terrier, drowned during the storm. The Bushes, who plan to leave Laguna Beach in February to buy and operate a ranch in Arkansas, said the disaster has delayed their plans.

“That’s when we had a piece of property to sell and a business to sell,” Sandy Bush said glumly.

Jack Crowell, co-owner of a heavily damaged house in the 31000 block of Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, is hoping that he can make repairs before the next storm strikes.

“Our major concern is the foundation,” Crowell said. “Where once there was our yard and steps leading down to it there is now nothing but a large hole.”

Trails throughout the 30,000-acre county regional park system were washed out, forcing the closure of all wilderness areas for at least a week, county officials said. Parks were hit so hard that damage assessments can’t be finished because rangers have been unable to drive into certain areas.

“The ground is so saturated, we can’t get heavy vehicles into the parks,” said Tim Miller, county regional parks manager.

At the northern tip of Aliso Creek near Trabuco Canyon in unincorporated county territory, a torrent of water rushed 9 feet above the creek bed, carving huge chunks of earth from its banks, Miller said.

The cost of storm damage in Lake Forest, where at least four cars were swept into Serrano Creek, will reach about $2 million, City Manager Robert Dunek said.

Also contributing to this report were Times correspondents Hope Hamashige, Frank Messina and Liz Seymour and photographer Bob Grieser.