RAIN POUNDS VALLEY AGAIN STORM SNARLS TRAFFIC AND KNOCKS OUT POWER.

Byline: Amy Raisin Darvish Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The storm everyone had been waiting for finally arrived Friday and wreaked the usual havoc, washing out roads, causing crashes on local freeways and leaving thousands of homes without power for a few hours, officials said.

Rain began falling before dawn Friday and continued to blanket the Santa Clarita Valley throughout the day, totaling nearly an inch by the time commuters jammed freeways during evening rush hour.

Emergency crews responded to dozens of traffic problems Friday, many on Interstate 5 near Templin Highway, where previous heavy storms exacerbated a hillside already saturated with water.

``There have been a lot of incidents up in that area,'' said CHP Officer Wendy Hahn of the Newhall station. ``Lots of (reports of) people rolling over, bumping into things. But amazingly, no serious injuries. That's a good thing. We like that.''

The latest storm played a role in uprooting a tree that took down some power lines before 7 a.m. Friday in Canyon Country, leaving 3,100 residences without power for nearly four hours, according to officials.

The outage affected homes from Bernina Avenue to Delight Street, according to Marlon Walker, a spokesman for Southern California Edison. ``We can't say for sure that the rain brought the tree down, but the weather did play a factor,'' he said.

Rains washed out a section of The Old Road near Calgrove Boulevard in Newhall in the afternoon, just in time to snarl evening traffic that was expected to be heavier than usual because of the three-day weekend.

In what is becoming routine, Friday's storm stranded residents of the Polynesian Mobile Home Park in Newhall, where the only access to the San Fernando Road complex became impassable. Newhall Creek, which runs beneath the entrance, became a swift-moving river that stranded residents on the property or prevented them from returning home.

The same low-pressure system that brought Friday's storm in from the northern central coast of California is expected to produce another storm over the area this weekend, said Jayme Laber of the National Weather Service.

``The rain will continue into Saturday but the next storm is expected to roll in Sunday night into Monday morning,'' Laber said. ``That one may have some thunderstorms embedded inside, which will bring even more rain.''

Sunday's storm is expected to drop an additional two to four inches of rain in the Santa Clarita Valley, he said.

Amy Raisin Darvish, [phone]

amy.raisin(at)dailynews.com

RAIN GAUGE

Friday: 0.86 inches*

Since Oct. 1: 33.96

Annual average: 18.19

*24 hours ending at 5 p.m..

Source: L.A. County Public Works.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

(color) California Highway Patrol Officer Bruce Turnn talks to a motorist at a road closure Friday on Highway 126 west of Interstate 5. The possibility of flooding restricted travel on the highway.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer

Box:

RAIN GAUGE (see text)