Storm Leaves Downed Trees, Closed Roads In Its Wake
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — A major storm has cleared out of Southern California, but not before wreaking havoc on its way out of the region.
The storm dumped heavy rain onto the area for a second day in a row. Downtown Los Angeles and the coastal areas got more than an inch of rain, Newhall came in at nearly 4 inches, to 6.5 inches in the San Gabriel Mountains in Ventura County.
"It's rare to get major rains this late in the season," National Weather Service meteorologist Curt Kaplan said.
Flash flood watches issued for L.A. County's burn areas have been canceled without the feared debris flows, but the storm did some damage before it petered out.
A large chunk of saturated hillside along La Tuna Canyon Road, where a brush fire raged in September, gave way, blocking a canal underneath. It had served as a natural drainage for the La Tuna Canyon area, and that stretch of the road will now remain closed until further notice.
Rain-slick highways naturally caused a higher number of spin-outs and crashes, including a collision between two buses along the 10 Freeway near Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area. A number of people were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
A single-engine plane skidded off the runway at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, forcing the airport to temporarily close the runway.
In Santa Clarita's Sand Canyon area, an SUV was overturned by rising flood waters, and the driver was rescued by a quick-thinking Good Samaritan. The dramatic rescue was caught on video.
Saturated trees also fell – a 100-foot pine in Studio City on Wednesday night that took out a car and a fence, narrowly missing the home beyond, and a eucalyptus in Sherman Oaks, which unfortunately did not miss the home next to it. The Sherman Oaks home has been red-tagged.
Mostly cloudy skies were forecast in L.A. and Orange counties Friday, with highs in the mid-60s.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
