WETTEST EVER? STORMS KILL 3; MOTHER NATURE NOT LETTING UP.Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer A winter storm pummeled Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, on Monday for the third straight day, claiming the lives of three people and raising fears of mudslides - even as homes around the region were evacuated. The downpour is expected to drop up to 3 more inches by Wednesday, making this the wettest year on record in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. through the end of February. A brief yet extremely powerful storm cell paralyzed par·a·lyze tr.v. par·a·lyzed, par·a·lyz·ing, par·a·lyz·es 1. To affect with paralysis; cause to be paralytic. 2. To make unable to move or act: paralyzed by fear. Hollywood just before 7 p.m., forcing the California Highway Patrol to close all lanes of the Hollywood Freeway at Santa Monica Boulevard where the runoff turned the freeway into a raging river. Runoff from the cell, which dumped rain at a rate of more than 2 inches per hour, trapped more than a dozen motorists in their vehicles as water on the freeway quickly rose to their windows, said CHP CHP Chapter CHP Combined Heat and Power CHP California Highway Patrol CHP Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (Turkish: Republican People's Party) CHP Chemical Hygiene Plan (OSHA) CHP Community Health Plan Officer Vince Ramirez. Traffic was diverted to surface streets at Santa Monica and Sunset boulevards, but heavy flooding plagued city streets, bringing the evening commute to a near halt in Hollywood. ``There were about 25 square blocks where flooding took place,'' said Los Angeles Fire Department The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), also known as the Los Angeles City Fire Department to distinguish it from the Los Angeles County Fire Department. It is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Los Angeles. spokesman Brian Humphrey. ``Several people were trapped in the rapidly rising water in Koreatown and Southeast Hollywood, and many of them were rescued. ``Luckily there were no reports of serious injury.'' Earlier, mudslides killed a 63-year-old man in Woodland Hills and a teenager in Orange County, and forced the evacuation of homes in Glendale, Pasadena, Bel-Air and coastal La Conchita. A 47-year-old Los Angeles civil engineer died late Sunday when he fell into a house-size sinkhole sinkhole or sink or doline Depression formed as underlying limestone bedrock is dissolved by groundwater. Sinkholes vary greatly in area and depth and may be very large. in Sun Valley. Across the Southland, freeways jammed. Commuter train service stalled. Wind and lightning knocked out power to thousands. Nickel-size hail fell on downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or . And farmers, weary of near-record rains, worried about millions in potential crop damage. Residents, meanwhile, struggled to repair leaky roofs as retailers reported a run on rain gear, umbrellas and windshield wipers
The Wipers were a punk rock group formed in Portland, Oregon in 1977 by guitarist Greg Sage, drummer Sam Henry and bassist Dave Koupal. . ``Enough already with the rain. It's been really, really bad driving,'' said Denise Elder, 58, a nurse who lives off Mulholland Drive in Woodland Hills. ``I feel every time I go up Topanga, the hill's going to fold in on me.'' Early Monday, rescue workers recovered the body of civil engineer Rory Shaw, who drowned after tumbling into the massive Sun Valley sinkhole - 150 feet wide by 30 feet deep, officials said. Mayor James Hahn, who had visited the site just hours earlier, ordered flags lowered to half-staff in honor of the Department of Public Works employee. Robert Wickham, 63, was killed about 2:30 a.m. when a 4-foot wall of mud ripped through his home in the 4100 block of Natoma Avenue in Woodland Hills, officials said. In Orange County, 16-year-old Caitlin Oto died when huge boulders crashed through her family's home east of Irvine. And in Silver Lake, three people were briefly trapped inside a one-story house that slid 30 feet down a hill, and three nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution. The home at 1459 Angelus Ave. slid down the slope just before 6 p.m. The occupants escaped without serious injury. Rainfall by Monday was more than 32 inches in downtown, more than three times the average to date of 9.89 inches and on the way to beating the annual record of 38.18 inches set in 1883-84. By 6 p.m. Monday, Burbank had received 0.57 of an inch, Thousand Oaks 2.4 inches, Lancaster 0.77 of an inch and downtown Los Angeles 2.79 inches. The mountains got 4 feet to 8 feet of snow above 5,000 feet. Forecasters predicted a 70 percent chance of rain today, with a 40 percent chance of showers Wednesday. To coordinate its storm response, Los Angeles opened its Emergency Operations Center The Emergency Operations Center, or EOC, is a central command and control facility responsible for carrying out the principles of emergency preparedness and emergency management, or disaster management functions at a strategic level in an emergency situation, and ensuring , with Hahn reporting that the city will likely be forced to dip into its reserves to pay for storm-related overtime pay. ``This is a powerful storm,'' Hahn said during a watery press conference. ``We're asking people if they don't need to be on the road, stay home.'' The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal utility in the United States, serving 3.9 million residents in 2006. It was founded in 1902 to deliver water and electricity supplies to residents and businesses in Los Angeles. reported 3,500 to 4,000 scattered power outages in Woodland Hills, Van Nuys and Venice Beach. Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 11 million people with electricity. Co. reported 3,200 outages, mostly in Palos Verdes. Since Friday's storm, 230,000 customers have gone without power. ``As soon as we make some headway we lose ground,'' said Edison spokesman Steve Conroy. By Monday afternoon, firefighters had responded to 1,000 storm-related calls - three times the normal service complaints. Residents with leaky roofs and chimneys flocked to such stores as Home Depot for tarps, roofing cement and rain gear. ``The calls are nonstop,'' said Greg Killick kil·lick also kil·lock n. A small anchor, especially one made of a stone in a wooden frame. [Origin unknown.] of At Home Services at the Home Depot in Woodland Hills, while telling one man how to cover a leaky chimney. ``We've run out of rain gear.'' Woodland Hills resident Peter Lauer, new tarp in hand, woke up to the sound of rainwater dripping on his Taylor guitar, the fault of a leaky chimney. Many didn't sleep on account of the rain - and concerns about leaks or floods. ``I was up in the attic In the Attic can refer to:
In the coastal Ventura County community of La Conchita, six of 39 remaining residents who had survived last month's mudslide elected to leave during the night. In Glendale, 30 residents in eight homes were evacuated because of mudslides and floods. ``I just heard a deafening roar and thought it was thunder,'' said Leo Leo, in astronomy Leo [Lat.,=the lion], northern constellation lying S of Ursa Major and on the ecliptic (apparent path of the sun through the heavens) between Cancer and Virgo; it is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Saragueta, a retiree from Glendale who was forced to leave his home. ``But then we heard trees cracking and snapping, and the scariest part is we couldn't see.'' In all, seven homes in Los Angeles were red-tagged - preventing residents from entry - and 25 more are yellow-tagged for limited access because of the storm. Baghdassar Sukiassians awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of a massive eucalyptus tree crashing through his roof. ``We thought first it was an explosion,'' said the Woodland Hills resident, who awoke to branches poking through his ceiling. Mud also played havoc on the roadways, where a slide caused a SigAlert on the 405 Freeway at Interstate 5 early Monday. According to Caltrans, Palmdale Boulevard (Highway 138) will remain closed from the Golden State Freeway The Golden State Freeway is a north-south freeway running through Kern County and Los Angeles County, California. Originally built as U.S. Highway 99, it was re-signed as Interstate 5 in 1964. to the Antelope Valley Freeway The Antelope Valley Freeway is a freeway in Los Angeles and Kern counties in southern California. It is signed as California State Highway 14 along its length. It connects Greater Los Angeles to the rapidly developing Antelope Valley. until crews can clean up mud and debris spilling across the road. In Ventura County, Highway 126 was closed between Fillmore and Piru and Highway 33 is washed out from Wheeler Campground to Lockwood Valley Road. Metrolink canceled some commuter train service north of Moorpark and Amtrak Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corp., authorized to operate virtually all intercity passenger railroad routes in the United States. Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 in response to more than two decades of continuous operating deficits by privately run curtailed northbound service between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. Because of mudslides, the MTA (1) (Message Transfer Agent or Mail Transfer Agent) The store and forward part of a messaging system. See messaging system. (2) See M Technology Association. 1. (messaging) MTA - Message Transfer Agent. Gold Line was forced onto a single track between Highland Park and Pasadena. Farmers in Ventura County, already socked with nearly $52 million in storm-related damages, cautiously eyed their rain-covered fields. Strawberry-field workers struggled through mud to stop rot and mold, while other farmers struggled to clear their crops. Daily News Staff Writers Kerry Cavanaugh, Brent Hopkins, Jason Kandell and Lisa Mascaro and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Dana Bartholomew, (818) 713-3730 dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) A truck driver attempts to cross floodwaters covering the Hollywood Freeway after a storm cell closed all lanes Monday night. Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press |
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