TRAGEDY OF THE DELUGE; TWO CHP OFFICERS AMONG 7 RAIN DEATHS.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer

The last in a brutal series of five El Nino storms left death and widespread damage throughout Southern California, claiming the lives Tuesday of two California Highway Patrol officers who were swept away in a muddy torrent as a highway washed away.

Five other deaths were linked to the latest storm, which set rainfall records for February in Los Angeles.

The season's strongest storm came to an end early Tuesday but not before adding to the disaster.

Rain-spurred mudslides slammed into homes in Laguna Beach. One person was killed and 10 injured.

The CHP officers were killed near Santa Maria when flood water from the Cuyama River washed away parts of Highway 166, flipping their car upside down and burying it in mud.

``It's tragic,'' said Ellis Stanley, a disaster preparedness expert for the city of Los Angeles. ``It's always disheartening when people get trapped and lose their lives.''

Two other people were crushed to death at the height of the storm Monday evening when a 70-foot eucalyptus tree fell onto their sport-utility vehicle on the campus of the Claremont Colleges.

And after a day of searching, rescuers Tuesday found the wreckage of a small plane that crashed during the storm in the rugged, snow-covered San Bernardino Mountains near Big Bear Lake. The pilot and a passenger were killed.

In a bizarre twist, the storm Tuesday spawned two tornadoes. The first touched down in Long Beach at 1:15 a.m., damaging fences and toppling trees. The second tornado struck Huntington Beach at 1:45 a.m., ripping through storage sheds and a carport awning in a trailer park. No injuries were reported in either case.

As the cleanup continued around the Southland, health officials Tuesday closed all Los Angeles County beaches from the Ventura County line in the north to Palos Verdes in the south due to storm-related spilling of sewage into the ocean.

Raging surf, tornadoes, mud-ravaged homes and toppled trees bore testament to the drenching that by Tuesday morning had pushed the monthly rainfall total at the Los Angeles Civic Center to 13.68 inches, surpassing the previous February record of 13.37 inches, set in 1884, the National Weather Service reported.

It was also the third-wettest month on record for Los Angeles. The two previous monthly records were December 1889, with 15.80 inches, and January 1969, with 14.94 inches, the NWS said.

``We're not forecasting any more rain for February,'' said NWS meteorologist Gary Ryan.

With a band of high pressure building over the Pacific, sending storms to the north of California, clear skies are predicted through at least Saturday, he said. But the long-term forecast shows above-normal rain for March.

Mostly sunny skies Tuesday gave residents and officials a chance to assess the damage.

By and large, the San Fernando Valley and much of Los Angeles escaped the destruction visited upon Ventura County, where mudslides sent an apartment building sliding down a hill Monday and the Ventura River undermined a rail bridge, halting all coastal train traffic for at least a month.

``We were largely spared of any serious consequence if you define that as structural collapse, serious injury or death,'' said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.

But the damage was extensive enough for the Los Angeles City Council to formally approve Mayor Richard Riordan's declaration of a local emergency. Gov. Pete Wilson already declared Los Angeles, Ventura and 34 other counties as disaster areas.

The City Council also approved $156,000 in additional funding for water rescue teams, which have responded to 29 calls since September, nearly twice the normal average for a season.

During Monday's storm, city fire crews responded to more than 100 reports of mudslides in Los Angeles, he said.

One of the most damaging slides in the Valley on Monday left a wall of mud resting against the back door of a Porter Ranch home on North Calle Vista Court.

Homeowner Joel Bergenfeld waded through the muck Tuesday, clearing a path for the water that continued to flow from the canyon behind his home.

``I've had it - I can't deal with this anymore,'' said Bergenfeld, whose home previously has been pummeled by the Northridge Earthquake and threatened by wildfires. ``I'm a hospital executive and now I'm a full-time mud shoveler.''

An 8-foot-deep hole about 9 feet by 6 feet wide opened up along the Los Angeles River near Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, prompting Metropolitan Transportation Authority contractors doing subway work 60 feet underground to order material to fill the hole, which is above an MTA tunnel.

``It's undetermined as to the cause,'' said Jim Smart, media relations director for the MTA. ``It's definitely rain related, but whether there was a storm drain, or some settlement of property, we don't know. The most important thing is there's no damage to the (subway) tunnel.''

In Malibu, residents of more than a dozen homes voluntarily evacuated at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday after 2,000 cubic yards of soil slid off a hill near the intersection of Rambla Vista and Rambla Orienta, said Diana Aronson, supervising fire dispatcher for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

In Newhall, Metrolink crews worked to repair a flood-damaged tunnel. Commuter train service will be available today between Santa Clarita and Los Angeles, but there will be no train service to the Acton or Lancaster stations until Thursday.

The Malibu Courthouse was closed Tuesday because of mudslides affecting Pacific Coast Highway. But the highway re-opened to traffic at 8:30 p.m., Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said.

And even under sunny skies the river rescues continued: A horse stranded on a sandbar in the Tujunga Wash in Sunland had to be hoisted out by helicopter at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

With roads still flooded, Antelope Valley school officials canceled classes Tuesday out of concern for the safety of students and staffers.

In Valencia, a huge sinkhole opened early Tuesday on Bouquet Canyon Road, jamming alternate routes and closing the heavily used thoroughfare for at least a month.

The 15-foot-wide hole is on the eight-lane bridge that crosses the Santa Clara River near Bouquet Junction, where 50,000 vehicles pass daily.

In Ventura, a mudslide crushed an already evacuated apartment complex on Cedar Street about 8:15 p.m. Monday, sending the building down a slope and into a neighboring building. About 300 residents of other apartments along the same slope were also evacuated, Ventura police said.

In La Conchita on Monday, mud swept through nine homes.

CHP Officers Rick Stovall, 39, and Brit Irvine, 40, were killed while responding to a call of a road washout on Highway 166, about 20 miles east of Santa Maria. Three vehicles and the CHP cruiser were found in the Cuyama River. The patrol car, buried upside down in the mud, was found after intense early morning rains subsided. Two other motorists were rescued by helicopter and divers searched for at least one other victim.

In Laguna Beach, Glenn Flook, 25, had abandoned his house to flooding and walked two blocks to a neighbor's home when it was suddenly struck by a massive slide about 12:30 a.m., police said. Rescue workers found his body lying in the mud.

Three homes were destroyed and eight others were evacuated.

On Monday evening, two 19-year-olds, Brian Cressner of Los Angeles and Yuta Kurahashi of Los Gatos, were killed when a tree crashed onto a sport-utility vehicle in Claremont.

In San Bernardino County, pilot Ray Burchill of San Diego and Jim Miller of Big Bear Lake were flying from Big Bear Lake to Palomar in San Diego County on Monday when their Beechcraft Bonanza disappeared, authorities said. The wreckage was found Tuesday afternoon.

Daily News Staff Writers Rick Orlov, David Bloom, Karen Maeshiro, Don Holland, David Greenberg, Stacy Brown, Sonia Giordani, Lisa Van Proyen and The Associated Press and City News Service contributed to this report.

CAPTION(S):

5 Photos, chart

PHOTO (1 -- 2 --color) Above, swift-water rescue workers locate a car in the area where the bodies of two Highway Patrol officers were found Tuesday in the Cuyama River, east of Santa Maria. At right, officials assess damage to Highway 166 near the river.

Associated Press

(3) A Cadillac parked along Pacific Coast Highway was smashed by boulders that tumbled down the Santa Monica Mountains.

David Sprague/Daily News

(4) Britt Irvine

(5) Rick Stovall

Chart: Wettest February