Storm’s Death Toll in State Rises to Nine

As rescuers found three more bodies in the wake of the latest storm to wallop California, the White House said Wednesday that $20 million in federal emergency funds is being earmarked to help the state repair its rain-battered roads.

That money comes atop $20 million in federal aid already committed to California by the Clinton administration for disaster assistance. “This is a direct response in trying to help the state repair roads damaged by El Nino,” said Rahm Emanuel, a senior presidential advisor.

Meanwhile rescuers in the high reaches of the San Bernardino Mountains reached the wreckage of a small, badly burned airplane and found what are believed to be the remains of two people killed in this week’s storm.

The discoveries would bring the unofficial death toll from the storm to at least nine, including two CHP officers whose car was swallowed up by a highway washout in San Luis Obispo County on Tuesday, and two Pomona College students whose vehicle was crushed by a tree that toppled in the storm.

Rescuers in San Bernardino had to retreat Wednesday in the face of worsening weather before they were able to confirm the identity of the dead--or even determine how many had been on board the aircraft.

The wreckage was believed to be that of a Beechcraft Bonanza that took off in poor weather from the Big Bear airport Monday morning, carrying two men and headed for the Palomar-McClellan Airport in northern San Diego County.

The Civil Air Patrol identified the plane’s owner and pilot as H. Ray Burchill, from the San Diego suburb of Rancho Bernardo, and his passenger as Joe Miller of Big Bear. Their plane was reported missing Monday by their families.

The wreckage was first spotted Tuesday afternoon at the 11,000-foot level on the side of San Gorgonio Mountain, Southern California’s highest peak.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department landed a helicopter on the mountainside Wednesday and then walked the rest of the way in.

But shortly after they reached the site, they turned back to avoid becoming stranded, said sheriff’s spokesman Chip Patterson. Rescuers plan to return to the site today.

Based on the visible crash evidence, “it appeared to have been a high-speed crash with fire,” Patterson said. He said the wreckage was so badly burned, the team could not positively confirm that it was the plane reported missing Monday. It was badly broken up, with its tail poking through the snow.

Today, James Lee Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is expected to travel to Southern California to tour storm-damaged areas in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties. President Clinton, who arrived in Northern California on Wednesday for a political fund-raiser and other events, will also meet with community leaders in San Francisco to discuss flooding in the Bay Area.

Touring tornado-damaged areas in Central Florida on Wednesday, Clinton paused to express sympathy for the destruction wrought in California. “People died there, and our thoughts are with their loved ones,” Clinton said.

Neither Los Angeles nor Orange County is among the 31 counties in California that have been declared federal disaster areas since the El Nino-related storms started earlier this month, but federal officials said that status--which makes residents eligible for financial aid--may be forthcoming.

“We can’t say so yet, but we have received applications from both counties so I would anticipate we would be taking an expedited look at that,” said FEMA spokeswoman Vallee Bunting.

This month’s storm had caused about $475 million in damage throughout the state even before the latest round began Monday, officials said.

“We’re urging anybody who’s had storm-related damage to go ahead and call and not decide for themselves if they’re eligible” for emergency assistance, said Julie Helmreich of the state’s Office of Emergency Services. The number to call is 800-462-9029.

This week’s rainfall, dropping about 2.5 inches in downtown Los Angeles and higher totals inland, was not the worst of the El Nino season, but the cumulative effect after weeks of recent rain hit hard.

“The problem with this storm was that we had so much rain preceding it, the ground was already saturated, and everything that came down became runoff,” said John Sherwin, meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. “The soil out there just can’t take that kind of saturation.”

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February is already the third-wettest month on record--and the wettest February ever, he said. “If this pace continues, my gosh, there’s going to be real problems--more flooding, more mudslides, more trouble,” he said.

The immediate forecast looks good, he said, with windy but sunny weather and no rain through at least Monday.

Clear skies Wednesday brought some respite for the mud-weary residents of Malibu in particular. But the storm’s aftermath was still being felt in the wealthy coastal community, where a 140-foot-long retaining wall partially collapsed, damaging two homes above the slide on Calle del Barco.

The 20-year-old wall, along a narrow residential road just above the Pacific Coast Highway, began to give way Tuesday night, unable to withstand the weight of the rain-soaked hill, Malibu Public Works Director John Clement said.

Malibu Mayor Jeff Jennings, surveying the damage, wasn’t sounding any dire alarms.

In an area where residents face a seemingly constant threat of landslides, “they know it goes with the territory,” he said. “We’re extremely fortunate this year. There has been no loss of life.”

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Times staff writers Bonnie Hayes, Daniel Yi, Jonathan Peterson and Elizabeth Shogren contributed to this story.