Rainstorm Triggers Flooding, Power Outages

The first significant rainstorm of the season triggered scattered flooding, mudslides, power outages and traffic collisions throughout Southern California over the weekend -- and a wary sigh of relief from fire officials who have been worried for months about dangerous fire conditions.

The rain also contributed to one traffic death when a taxi, which had been speeding, skidded off the Harbor Freeway, landing on the street below, officials said.

Although a few warm days and some wind could revive the fire threat, the first showers since April 17 eased what one fire official described as conditions “eerily similar” to the weather pattern that helped fuel last October’s devastating wildfires.

“Certainly, if we had a weather event like this last year, we wouldn’t have had the event we had on Oct. 25, when the Old fire started” in San Bernardino National Forest, said Peter Brierty, fire marshal for San Bernardino County.

Only last week, Brierty said, “It was very clear and there was a dry wind, and we thought, ‘Oh, boy, here we go again.’ ”

Officials, however, were cautious not to overstate the gift of up to 1.7 inches of rain that fell on Palomar Mountain in San Diego County. Overall, most of Southern California received about half an inch, with forecasters predicting the possibility of more rain through Wednesday morning.

Officials at Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County may be able to decide today whether to reopen parts of the forest that they closed late last month because of extreme fire danger. Bone-dry conditions in the forest led officials to close 80% of the territory and, for the first time, force out hundreds of cabin owners.

“We will be reevaluating the closure situation [this] morning, and we are constantly monitoring the conditions of the fuel moisture,” said Don Feser, the forest’s fire chief. “Hopefully, we’ll be pleasantly surprised over the next few days.”

“The rain we got today was needed, but ... I’d say we need one to two months of pretty consistent high humidity and rain to get back where we need to be to feel safe,” said Matt Streck, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in San Diego.

The sporadic deluges in San Diego County were a mixed blessing, since rocks and mud also slid down some bare mountain sides.

Streck said Sunday that he was standing in a foot of mud as he watched crews lay down sandbags in a residential area near the eastern edge of Ramona. Some residents saw the dirt ooze into their garages and one man stood in 3 inches of it in his house.

“Flooding will continue to be a concern until light grasses grow back,” Streck said.

In Orange County, the rain caused a roof to collapse at a tire store in Stanton, washed into an underground parking lot in another part of the city and damaged boats in Huntington Harbour.

Seal Beach residents saw garbage cans and even a few cars floating down Seal Beach Boulevard and 17th Street on Sunday. Mayor Paul Yost said it probably was the fourth-largest flood in the city in the last 30 years.

“It sounded like a waterfall coming through the bottom of the door,” said Rachel Colton, 26, a mother of two toddlers whose Seal Beach Boulevard apartment was damaged. The carpeting was hauled out Sunday while she looked at waterlogged clothes and furniture.

Across an alley, Darla and Robert Kelly lamented the loss of oak flooring. They awoke early Sunday morning when she heard the rain and then watched in the living room as the water came in.

“It looked like a vase spilled. We were standing there as the water was rising and we couldn’t do anything,” Darla Kelly said. “We felt helpless.”

The rain caused havoc on some roads in Los Angeles County. From midnight to 7 a.m. Sunday, the California Highway Patrol logged about 350 traffic collisions. During the same period last week, when there was no rain, 120 collisions were reported.

A taxi driver was killed and his passenger suffered a broken back when the car ran off the rain-slick Harbor Freeway about 6 a.m. Sunday, officials said.

The taxi, which had been speeding, hit a guardrail and flipped over the side of the elevated freeway, landing in the parking lot of the Los Angeles Unified School District Police Department, 1330 W. Pico Blvd., said CHP Officer Tariq Johnson.

The name of the driver, who was 33, was withheld pending notification of his family. The passenger, Marvin Vindel, 30, of West Hills, was being treated at County-USC Medical Center, Johnson said.

In the city of Los Angeles, about 3,000 customers lost power, mostly in the central city area, but also in Hollywood, Lincoln Park, Pacific Palisades and South Los Angeles, said Carol Tucker, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Water and Power.

About 36,000 businesses and homes in other cities in the county, including Long Beach and Santa Monica, also lost power, said Susan Heard, a spokeswoman for Southern California Edison.

Both utilities said that crews were working to restore power and hoped to bring the lights back on everywhere by Sunday night.

Heard said power companies have to deal with outages every year after a long dry spell. “This is not an unprecedented event,” Heard said. “Dust and debris accumulate, and with the first rain, equipment failure occurs.”

In some cases, Tucker said, power was interrupted because cars crashed into power poles.

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Times staff writers Daniel Hernandez and David Pierson contributed to this report.