LATE-SEASON STORM BREAKS RECORDS.

Byline: SUSAN ABRAM and ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writers

April showers bring May ... showers?

An unusual Pacific storm swept into Los Angeles on Monday, breaking rainfall records, snarling morning commutes and spurring at least one swift-water rescue of a homeless man caught in the Los Angeles River.

Los Angeles reported almost a half-inch of rain, compared with the record of 0.01 of an inch in 1947. Burbank also reported a record, from a trace in 1966 to 0.47 of an inch Monday afternoon.

``You can tell from the records, it's pretty late in the season,'' said Stuart Seto, weather specialist for the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

In a dramatic rescue about 11:15 a.m., water swelled through the Los Angeles River near Griffith Park, where firefighters used a helicopter to pluck Paul Haynes from his encampment, which had become surrounded by two feet or more of rising water.

After a rescuer was lowered by rope from a helicopter, he held on to Haynes with one hand and used his other hand to free the rope from the branches above. Haynes was then dropped off by the river's concrete bank and given a blanket.

``It wasn't very frightening, except for going up in the helicopter was a little bit shaky,'' said Haynes, an unemployed computer technician living in a tent in a normally dry part of the river channel.

When he went to sleep Sunday night, the rain was only a drizzle. But he awoke to see rising waters and knew the current, flowing at 25-30 mph, was too strong to cross.

In Glendale, a resident called 911 about 11:30 a.m. to report mud sliding down the hillside around a home in the 1600 block of Gladys Drive. Firefighters responded to the area, but city engineers determined the home wasn't in immediate danger of falling.

In January 2005, residents of two houses downhill from the Gladys Drive home were evacuated after a mudslide.

Before leaving the region Monday, rains doubled the number of crashes on Los Angeles County highways. Slippery roads were blamed for two fatal crashes in the Santa Clarita Valley on Sunday.

There were 138 nonfatal or serious crashes from 2 to 8 a.m. Monday, compared with 58 for the same time and day last week, California Highway Patrol Officer Terry Liu said.

``We attribute this to the rain,'' Liu said. ``People speeding along and just taking transition roads too fast or hitting puddles of water and hydroplaning.''

Forecasters are calling for clear and sunny skies today with temperatures in the mid- to high 70s, Seto said.

susan.abram(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) A mudslide Monday morning on Ina Drive in Glendale caused some concern. The house has been yellow-tagged since last year's heavy rains and no one is living in the house.

(2) A rescuer keeps a firm grip on a man who was stranded by the rising Los Angeles River just east of the Victory bridge overpass Monday. The man was not injured.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News