Storm II: The Sequel Ends With a Bang

The second major rainstorm of the week pounded the San Fernando Valley on Friday, flooding streets and causing power outages and traffic accidents, including a cluster of chain-reaction fender-benders on the Ventura Freeway that banged up more than 50 vehicles.

More rain is forecast over the next four days, although it is predicted to be of less intensity, said a forecaster for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. Sunshine was expected at dawn today, but increasing clouds will lead to showers later in the day, then steady rain developing Sunday, said forecaster-meteorologist John Sherwin.

Another storm is forecast for Tuesday.

At the peak of the mid-day rains, some stretches of Ventura Boulevard in Studio City and Sherman Oaks were covered with several inches of water, business owners reported. But there were no reports of severe flooding, and the LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division said traffic continued to move along the Valley’s main thoroughfare without major slowing.

Although the rains had stopped by late Friday afternoon, more than 50 vehicles were involved in a series of at least five related but separate accidents that began about 3:15 p.m. on the eastbound Ventura Freeway between Reseda Boulevard and De Soto Avenue.

Twenty cars were involved in a pileup at De Soto Avenue, said California Highway Patrol Officer Dwight McDonald. Thirteen vehicles crashed just west of Winnetka Avenue and 12 cars and a big truck were involved in two separate accidents at Wilbur Avenue.

Eight cars crashed in the eastbound lanes at Reseda Boulevard.

“It’s a mess, pack a lunch,” McDonald said. “It’s just horrendous.”

No one was seriously injured in the accidents, McDonald said.

“It’s a combination of driving too fast, too close, inattention and a rain-slicked roadway,” he said.

The CHP reopened all lanes of the Ventura Freeway about 5:20 p.m.

The California Highway Patrol reported 245 traffic accidents on Los Angeles County freeways and unincorporated roads between 5 a.m. and noon on Friday, said Officer Richard Perez, who called the number “a little above normal.”

“We’ve heard people are slowing down in the rain, but the occasional person is not,” said Doug Sweeney, a CHP spokesman.

Among the Friday morning accident victims was a 36-year-old Valencia woman who was trapped in her sport utility vehicle after she spun out in the rain on the southbound Antelope Valley Freeway north of San Fernando Road about 11:30 a.m., Sweeney said.

Brenda Hanlin’s vehicle skidded into the center divider, then crossed all lanes, slammed into the right shoulder guardrail and overturned, Sweeney said. Hanlin’s foot was trapped for about 30 minutes before a tow truck driver was able to free her from the wreckage.

Hanlin was later reported in good condition at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital.

Traffic through the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area was halted shortly after 10 a.m. as streets in the basin were flooded by water held back from the Los Angeles River by the Sepulveda Dam, for which the basin is designed.

Water peaked at 20 feet above the basin floor at 12:15 p.m. before subsiding.

For the first time since the storms began Tuesday, engineers at the earthquake-damaged Pacoima Dam will begin releasing water this weekend, causing heavy flows at times in the Pacoima Wash, where a dozen people had to be rescued in a series of incidents during 1995 and 1996.

The water level in the Pacoima Reservoir has been purposely kept at about a third of its capacity so that crews could complete earthquake repairs and test the stability of the dam, said Ken Swanson, supervising county civil engineer. “We haven’t made any releases for several days out of the dam,” Swanson said, “so we will probably start Saturday or Sunday, to keep the level down.”

In Glendale, more than 1,500 customers were without power for most of Friday after a fire in an unmanned station at Western Avenue and Flower Street at 8:20 a.m. The outage forced the Glendale Police Department to switch to generators.

An additional 5,000 Valley customers of the Los Angeles City Department of Water and Power were without power at various times throughout the day. Affected areas included Mission Hills, North Hills, Canoga Park and North Hollywood, said DWP spokeswoman Karen Shepard-Grimes.

Friday’s storm brought snow to the Frazier Park area atop Tejon Pass about 35 miles north of the Santa Clarita Valley, turning the mountains white. High winds and scattered power outages in nearby Lebec closed Frazier Mountain High School for the day. The headquarters of Tejon Ranch Co. first lost power, and once that was restored, lost phone service.

San Fernando Valley schools fared well in Friday’s storms. All campuses remained open, including those that experienced leaky roofs and at least two that suffered temporary power outages.

Lorne Street Elementary in Northridge lost power for about one and a half hours and administrators asked parents to pick up children involved in the campus’ after-school latch-key program, said Principal Robert Fishman.

Some parents did pick up their children, but power was restored in time for the program in the school’s auditorium to proceed on schedule.

“Fortunately, the outage came when the rain was least heavy,” Fishman said.

At Danube Avenue Elementary in Granada Hills, power was out for most of the school day, until school district crews installed a generator around 2 p.m. But classes continued and the only other sign of the storm was a leak in the auditorium roof.

Workers at the San Fernando Gardens housing complex secured its roof with heavy-duty plastic in time for Friday’s storm. Gusty winds early Tuesday morning blew off a 20-by-60-foot section at the Pacoima housing complex, displacing eight families who were put up in a hotel or relocated to vacant apartments.

“We’re getting some hellish weather,” said Jim Middleton, the maintenance supervisor.

Officials are still assessing the damage to the apartments, which suffered water damage to the ceilings and floors.

Roof repairs are expected to start next week “on the first nice day we have,” Middleton said.

The Los Angeles Fire Department’s Swift Water Rescue Team was again on alert due to Friday’s rain. Four teams of six rescuers, as well as a helicopter, were deployed throughout the city in case of a swift-water or mudslide emergency, said Capt. Jack Wise.

Wise said the team will monitor the weather closely this weekend to determine whether to staff rescuers.

Willman is a Times staff writer and Vitucci a correspondent. Also contributing to this story were staff writers Duke Helfand, Eric Slater and Stephanie Stassel.

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Rain in Your Neighborhood

This map shows the amounts of rain that fell on different parts of the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys on Friday from midnight to 4 p.m. Relative amounts were measured by a Doppler radar unit that can estimate the amount of precipitation in an area approximately a mile square.