Costs mount as deadly storms soak Southern California; more rain falling

By: RYAN PEARSON - Associated Press Writer | Wednesday, February 23, 2005 10:21 AM PST ∞

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Homes slipped down saturated hillsides and a surging river tore through an airport runway as costs mounted from a series of storms that have soaked Los Angeles with its largest rainfall total in 115 years.

Dozens of roads remained closed across Southern California on Wednesday due to flooding or mudslides and Los Angeles officials had either limited or prohibited entry to nearly 100 storm-damaged homes. Backyard decks and at least one swimming pool toppled down weakened slopes.

The end was in sight after six days of powerful, if sometimes brief storms. Rain continued early Wednesday across sections of Southern California, but was expected to taper off by late in the day in the Los Angeles area. The center of the weather system was headed east along the California-Mexico border, National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Balfour said Wednesday.

This year's storms -- which led to the third-wettest year on record for both Los Angeles and San Diego -- have caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to roads, homes and buildings across the region, including $52.5 million in Los Angeles County alone.

Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn urged President Bush to issue a federal disaster declaration for the city, which could open the way for federal assistance.

Nine people were killed statewide, including a man who was driving when a eucalyptus tree fell on his pickup truck Monday in San Diego County and a Nevada woman caught in an avalanche Sunday while cross-country skiing near Lake Tahoe. On Monday, mud and boulders crashed into an apartment bedroom and crushed a 16-year-old girl as she did her homework at the computer. A 61-year-old man was killed in a separate landslide.

In Ventura County, officials closed the small Santa Paula airport Tuesday after more than 155 feet of runway crumbled into the rushing Santa Clara River.

"We've lost nearly the entire west third of the airport," said Rowena Mason, president of the Santa Paula Airport Association. "This is millions and millions of dollars worth of damage."

Mudslides forced Amtrak officials to suspend train service north of Los Angeles to Santa Barbara at least through Thursday.

There were moments of beauty amid the disaster: A rare rainbow appeared during the Los Angeles morning commute, and a waterspout rose from the Pacific Ocean in the Santa Monica Bay.

Up to 3 feet of snow had fallen across much of the southern Sierra Nevada, while Northern California also was hit by severe thunderstorms and hail. As much as 10 feet of snow fell in Mount Baldy in the San Bernardino Mountains, drawing skiers and snowboarders to the LA-area resort.

For downtown Los Angeles, the total rainfall from the storms that have battered the state since last week reached 9.14 inches Wednesday morning.

That brings the amount since July 1, when California begins its yearly rainfall measurements, to 34.36 inches -- more than Seattle or Portland and the city's most since 1889-90. The record for the entire year, 38.18 inches, was set in 1883-84. The yearly average is about 15 inches.

Entire freeways and some major roads have been shut down during the storm, and the Pacific Coast Highway leading into Malibu remained closed Wednesday.

A woman was rescued from rushing, waist-high waters of the Rio Hondo in Montebello Tuesday. Three people were treated for minor injuries after they swam to safety Tuesday when their SUV skidded on wet pavement in Anaheim and flipped into the Santa Ana River.

South of the border in Tijuana, Mexico, the Office of Civil Protection reported at least seven homes had collapsed in landslides, and more than 150 people were evacuated. And in San Diego County's Oceanside, six homes already condemned due to a weakening hillside continued to inch further toward collapse, threatening several homes on a street below.

Norberto Creencia was watching television reports of mudslides in his community of Paradise Hills before realizing they had hit his own property.

"I said, 'I gotta check this,"' he told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "I looked outside and I said, 'Gee, where's my back yard?"'

The wet weather disrupted two pro golf tournaments. Adam Scott's victory at the Nissan Open in Los Angeles won't be counted in the record books because it was cut short by rain, and the start of the Match Play Championship in Carlsbad was postponed from Wednesday to Thursday due to standing water on the course.

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