California digs out from record storm

Thu, 23 Dec 2010

Los Angeles - The sun made a welcome return to southern California Thursday after seven days of torrential rain left many areas underwater, covered with mud and threatened by mudslides.

The relentless downpour splashed some 19 centimeters of rain on downtown Los Angeles, which is now expected to record the second- wettest winter on record.

The only fatality caused by the storm occurred in Riverside county where a woman was found dead in her vehicle after her car was swept away by rushing water.

In the mountain ranges that ring Los Angeles, as much as 50 centimeters of rain fell in many places. But the brunt of the recent storm fell more heavily on Orange County in the south where swanky Laguna Beach was covered in a thick layer of mud when a storm drain channel that usually diverts excess water underneath the downtown area burst its barriers and sent torrents of debris through the streets.

Residents who left their homes Thursday to survey the damage found streets, stores and restaurants covered in knee high mud and the popular beach boardwalks all but eliminated.

"The devastation is incredible," said local resident Jennifer Jacobs as she watched crews begin the clean-up. "The mud is everywhere."

But emergency officials had been bracing for far worse damage, fearing that hillsides denuded in last summer's wildfires would send torrents of debris hurtling down slopes and into residential areas and roads. Hundreds of homes had been evacuated but the feared mudslides did not occur, though officials warned that storms forecast for the weekend could trigger deadly landslides.

"The ground is so saturated it could move at any time" and the threat will remain for several weeks, said Bob Spencer, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works.

"We really, really dodged a bullet," meteorologist Jamie Meier told the Los Angeles Times.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359511,california-digs-record-storm.html.