Storm Packs One-Two Punch

A powerful Pacific storm invaded Southern California with thundering surf, wind-driven rain and heavy snow Wednesday afternoon, snarling evening commuter traffic and posing the threat of serious coastal flooding.

The National Weather Service said the storm was moving onshore in two waves.

The first should drop 1 to 1 1/2 inches of rain in the coastal areas by this morning, with about 2 inches at higher elevations, said Tim McClung, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “There should be a brief lull Thursday morning, then a second wave Thursday afternoon and into Friday that will bring as much heavy rain as the first,” he said.

Dry soil, capable of absorbing a lot of moisture, and empty debris and storm basins should minimize the threat of flooding inland, except for pooling in low-lying areas, McClung said.

“The real concern is coastal flooding. The storm is propagating huge swells out in the Pacific--waves 30 to 35 feet tall,” he said. “There will be a tremendous increase in the surf here as these swells approach the shore. We’re forecasting waves up to 12 feet Thursday atop very high astronomical tides.”

In Orange County, jail inmates helped residents build sandbag flood barriers in Surfside, a gated oceanfront community in Seal Beach that experienced some flooding Tuesday.

Bulldozers shored up a sand berm in front of some of the homes in Surfside, but several residents were skeptical that the barrier, which crumbled during Tuesday’s high tide, will hold up under the much bigger waves expected today.

“A few big waves, and that thing will be gone,” said Sonny Reser, who has lived in Surfside for six years.

If the water tops the berm, Reser said, he will just open the front and back doors on the first floor of his three-story home and let the sea wash through, as he did during a flood several years ago.

“If you’re living on a sandbar, it’s just the reality of what you have to deal with,” he said.

Across Orange County, swift-water rescue teams were on alert. In Newport Harbor, sheriff’s deputies moved several boats that were tied up near the mouth of the harbor, where large waves can snap mooring lines. In Laguna Beach, where big storms have flooded downtown streets in years past, fire stations handed out free sandbags.

In Ventura County, dozens of homeless people gathered at a shelter at the National Guard Armory in Oxnard, seeking cots and blankets, hot showers and food.

“We’re seeing a lot of folks we haven’t seen before,” said Mike Ewens, a project manager with the Salvation Army. “A lot of their hiding places are being washed out.”

Rain was falling heavily by nightfall Wednesday, slowing traffic to a crawl on freeways and surface streets across Los Angeles and Orange counties. One accident at nightfall on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu backed up traffic for five miles. In Orange County, the Highway Patrol reported a number of rain-related fender-benders but no serious accidents as of 9:30 p.m.

Snow was piling up in the Tehachapi, San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains above 5,000 feet, and forecasters said the snow level would dip to 4,000 feet by dawn today, with blizzard conditions threatening travel through some of Southern California’s major mountain passes.

“Gusts of over 60 mph . . . blowing snow and dense fog will lead to dangerous white-out conditions in some areas,” the weather service said. Up to 20 inches of snow is expected at resort levels by Friday afternoon.

The storm had dropped 0.23 inch of rain in the official Los Angeles rain gauge at USC by 5 p.m. Wednesday, raising the total for the season, which runs from July 1 through June 30, to 1.70 inches. The normal season’s total by Jan. 10 is 5.65 inches.

Other storm totals by 4 p.m. Wednesday included 0.80 inch in Laguna Hills, 0.40 inch in Orange, 1.22 inches in Santa Barbara, 0.82 inch in Ventura, 0.58 in Oxnard, 0.30 in Malibu, 0.26 in Culver City and Chatsworth, 0.20 in Pasadena, 0.19 in Hawthorne, 0.13 in Van Nuys, and 0.11 in Northridge and Redondo Beach.

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Times staff writer Bob Pool in Malibu and correspondent Holly J. Wolcott in Ventura County contributed to this report.

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Double Whammy

A combination of massive waves and heavy rains expected to hit this morning could cause flooding in coastal communities.

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times