2,000 Evacuated In Kern County As Storm Continues
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A storm pounding the state with record rain forced authorities in the San Joaquin Valley to call Monday for the evacuation of some 2,000 residents of the farming community of McFarland due to major flooding.
An estimated 400 to 500 homes were in danger, Kern County Fire Department spokesman Sean Collins said.
A sheriff's helicopter crew was trying to locate the source of the flooding, which possibly was coming from ditches and canals that supply water to farms, Collins said. Two evacuation centers were set up.
Stormy weather has gripped California since late last week, triggering mostly minor flooding, mudslide, road closures and power outages, but forecasters had warned of significant flooding dangers.
The storm was expected to intensify Tuesday night and Wednesday, with between five and 10 more inches of rain.
Virtually the entire state was affected, from coastal cities to the Central Valley, Sierra Nevada and southern deserts. Rainfall records fell, numerous traffic accidents snarled roads and trees tumbled.
Some locations in Southern California received more than 12 inches of rain, said meteorologist Jamie Meier of the National Weather Service. It was the most rainfall in one storm event since 2005, he said.
"That will make for a pretty good wallop, especially considering how dry things have been for the last two years," Meier said.
Flash-flood warnings were in effect for some places, particularly mountain areas still scarred by wildfires.
Residents of La Canada Flintridge were among those keeping a wary eye on the rain after a 250-square-mile wildfire last year denuded towering slopes above communities along the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
More than 40 homes in the hillside city just north of Los Angeles were damaged or destroyed by a mudslide in February.
"We are holding up," said resident Lien Yang, who added he was warned to be prepared to evacuate. "It's coming down steady but not pouring. Therefore it doesn't cause a mud flow or flooding or anything like that."
In the Sierra, the Sugar Bowl ski resort received as much as 60 inches of snow at upper elevations.
Elsewhere, a 20-mile stretch of scenic Pacific Coast Highway between Malibu and Oxnard was closed to commuters after a rock and mudslide Sunday night. The California Highway Patrol said no one was hurt. PCH also was closed for a time in Orange County by a mudslide at Dana Point.
Eastbound Highway 71 in Pomona was closed because of potholes and flooding, and a number of mountain roads were closed.
The stormy weather began hitting the northern part of the state late Thursday and southern areas on Friday, after a large storm front moving out of the Gulf of Alaska met with subtropical, moist air coming across the Pacific Ocean.
Elsewhere in Kern County, 10 people were evacuated Monday from three homes in Weldon due to flooding from a creek, and extensive flooding of farmland was occurring in the Lamont area, possibly due to a failure of a dike, Collins said.
The Los Angeles area, including downtown, Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley, received 3 inches to 4 inches of rainfall, while mountain areas got much more. In Monterey County, Three Peaks recorded 13.74 inches between Thursday evening and Sunday night.
Rainfall records weren't just broken, they were obliterated. The weather service said 3.45 inches of rain fell in Pasadena on Sunday, shattering the old mark of 1.5 inches on the same date in 1987. Since the storm began, the city had received more than 5 inches as of early Monday.
On the Central Coast, the Santa Maria River briefly overran its banks Sunday and caused flooding in Guadalupe in Santa Barbara County, forcing an underdetermined number of people to leave their homes.
The Santa Maria Times reported the high waters began receding in the evening. Gibraltar Reservoir on the Santa Ynez River had risen more than 4 feet since the storm began, the county Office of Emergency Services said.
In Woodland Hills, north of Los Angeles, a eucalyptus tree crashed onto the roof of a home, while a 40-foot tree fell onto an apartment building in Glendale. No injuries were reported.
Snow levels in Southern California were around 7,000 feet because the storm was so warm, but Tuesday night's anticipated storm could be much colder, meteorologists said, and that should allow snow at elevations as low as 5,500 feet.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
