201901.06
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Crews clean up after year’s first winter storm in Southern California, with showers due later in week

by in News

The first winter storm of 2019 left authorities cleaning up a muddy Pacific Coast Highway in a fire-ravaged portion of Malibu on Sunday, as Southern California residents enjoyed a respite from the rainy weather before the expected arrival of showers later in the week.

The region was still recovering from a heavy downfall late Saturday that led to flood watches and alerts across Los Angeles County, particularly in the communities impacted by the recent Woolsey fire. Several slides left mud and debris pouring over Pacific Coast Highway near the Ventura County line.

Caltrans crews aided with heavy construction equipment were busy at daybreak on Sunday clearing the mud from heavily-traveled PCH, which was expected to remained closed from Encinal Canyon Road in Malibu to Los Posas Road in Ventura County until at least Monday.

Video taken at the scene early in the morning showed several vehicles still trapped in the muck.

The bulk of the storm largely tapered off by early Sunday, with just scattered showers expected overnight and into early Monday. But forecasters cautioned that several other storms are lined up across the Pacific, ready to move into Southern California through the coming week.

Areas of Los Angeles County should receive between .25 and .5 inches of rain through Monday, Jan. 7, the National Weather Service said. Totals in Ventura County were expected to be between .5 and 1 inch. Meanwhile, parts of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties might see less than .1 of an inch of precipitation.

For areas scorched by the massive Woolsey fire in Los Angeles County or the Holy fire in Orange and Riverside counties, any sustained rain brings fears of potentially rapid mud and debris flow. But the wet start to the new year also brings hope that the bone-dry droughts that set the stage for last year’s devastating fires could potentially be coming to an end.

“We are definitely ahead of normal,” said Joe Dandrea, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s San Diego office, about the amount of rain this winter. “A lot of these (rain storms) have been nice because they have hit and moved on. We need a lot of smaller storms to recover from the drought.”

The shorter, smaller storm allows the soil time to absorb the rain, rather than heavier deluges where much of the water simply runs off into the rivers and eventually the sea, said Kathy Hoxsie, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles office.

“We are certainly starting off better than we have been,” Hoxsie said of the current rainy season.

The break between this weekend’s storm will likely allow the excess water to drain from the fire-impacted areas, Hoxsie said. That lessens the chance of slides when additional rains come, she added, although there may be some areas where soil was loosened, which could result in smaller slides.

The storm Saturday through Sunday afternoon produced between .4 and .8 inches of rain for most of Los Angeles County, with Pasadena receiving an extra drenching totaling 1.09 inches, Hoxsie said. The NWS said Huntington Beach received the most rain on the Orange County coast with .75 inches, while Sylvan Meadows southwest of Murrieta received 1.19 inches.

In the Inland area, snow fell on the upper elevations of mountains in both Riverside and San Bernardino County, with 8-10 inches in the Big Bear Mountain/Snow Summit skiing area, according to the NWS. The Long Valley Ranger station in the San Jacinto Mountains, just west of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, reported 9 inches of snow.

The storms receded from the mountains Sunday and the California Highway Patrol reported crowded traffic in the San Bernardino Mountains, with illegally parked cars in Forest Falls and Running Springs, and some vehicles towed.  CHP also provided traffic control at jammed areas of highways 18 and 330, and Mount Baldy Road.

Nearly an inch of rain fell on the Horsethief and Rice Canyon areas of Riverside County, within the footprint of the Holy fire, but no debris flows were reported, nor were there any issues reported in the burn area of the Cranston fire in the San Jacinto Mountains near Idyllwild, where just more than an inch was measured at the Keenwild Fire Station near Mountain Center.

Forecasters said it is too early to predict exactly what the next significant storm will bring when it arrives mid to late-week, but cautioned that it may be similar to Saturday night’s rainfall.

In the meantime, health officials are warning coastal residents and visitors to steer clear of storm drains in ocean waters, since they can contain hazards facilitated by the flow of chemicals, debris and trash from city streets and mountain areas. The beach water use advisory is expected to remain in effect until at least Wednesday morning.

Staff writer Eric Licas and City News Service contributed to this report.