Rain pounds Southern California

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for areas of Southern California hit by last fall's wildfires as a new storm pounded the region with heavy rain today.

Officials said today's storm could dump as much as an inch per hour of rain in some areas, further destabilizing hillsides burned in the fires. The rains are expected to continue through Sunday morning. But a new storm is expected to hit by Monday.

As of 4 a.m., downtown L.A. recorded 1.47 inches of rain, Santa Monica 1.62, Burbank 3.02, Long Beach 1.34, Claremont 3.77 and Mt. Baldy 5.34.

In Yorba Linda, where a wildfire last year burned dozens of homes, residents were advised to be on alert and be prepared to evacuate if conditions worsened. Modest mud flows were reported in several hillside areas including Sylmar, where 4 feet of mud covered a few side streets.

 

The first of this week's storms hit Friday, bringing the usual rain-related headaches as residents of Sierra Madre scooped up mud in their yards and stacked sandbags to prevent further damage. There were 104 accidents today between midnight and 9 a.m., California Highway Patrol officials said.

"We've had a couple of incidents where vehicles had overturned," CHP Officer Jennifer Connolly said. "Motorists just need to be reminded that they need to slow down."

In the mountains, residents are dealing with snow. About 4 to 8 inches of snow fell in the higher elevations Friday, and the accumulation could total as many as 24 inches by Sunday.

-- Shelby Grad and Ruben Vives

Comments

[Valerie Ring]

For anyone who doesn't believe the human effect on the earth just look to the nearly 1 month of continous dry day here in Portland, OR and the deluge Southern California is now experriencing.

[rick jones]

Fire, then flood. What's next? Frogs, locusts and The Big One?

[John Hansen]

I'm happy of the rain!