Wet, Windy Weather Stays In California
Authorities Watch For Flash Floods, Mudslides
LOS ANGELES -- Forecasters were warning Sunday that wetter weather is still to come as the latest storm to hit Southern California isn't causing major problems, so far.
Up to 2 inches of rain fell overnight in valley and coastal areas and about double that in the mountains, a National Weather Service specialist said.
A flash-flood warning remained in effect until Sunday night for at least three counties near Los Angeles, and authorities are on standby for flash floods and slides.
Fire crews in the Los Angeles area rescued two people who drove off the rain-slickened 110 Freeway into an adjacent drainage channel early Sunday, reported Sacramento, Calif., TV station KCRA. The two people were found standing beside their wrecked sedan and were guided by fire crews through the rushing water onto a dry area at the edge of the channel.
The victims were lifted by crane from the 30-foot-deep concrete channel onto the freeway and taken to a nearby hospital.
Forecasters said thunderstorms could develop later in the day, possibly bringing with them torrential rain, tornadoes and an increased likelihood of mudslides and debris flows in areas denuded by last year's wildfires.
The storm is the latest in a series to unleash deadly avalanches, flooded streets and caused mud and rock slides.
On Saturday, searchers in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles recovered the body of a third avalanche victim. He was identified as 60-year-old Christopher Allport, an avid backcountry skier, who was also a character actor on television. Allport had parts in such shows as "ER," Felicity" and "Matlock."
Allport's death followed the deaths of off-duty ski patrolman Michael McKay, 23, and Darrin Coffey, 33, a veteran Mountain High ski patrol member, in separate avalanches Friday. All three died near the Mountain High ski resort west of Los Angeles.
McKay was found dead by searchers and Coffey was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the way down the mountain after being found Friday night, but died at a hospital, reported Los Angeles TV station KNBC.
Meantime, a Los Angeles County sheriff's helicopter rescued a fourth person who had been missing in the avalanches.
Oscar Gonzales Jr., 24, got lost Friday while snowboarding on an unmarked trail near the Mountain High ski resort. He said he made a "wrong decision" and "hit a rock." He said he kept walking in the snow to keep warm and thought constantly about his 5-year-old daughter. As Gonzales put it in an interview with the Riverside Press-Enterprise, "I couldn't stand leaving my daughter."
The director of marketing at Mountain High called the avalanche deaths a tragedy, but hastened to remind the public that the people who died had willingly ventured outside of marked boundaries at the ski resort.
"We do have three fatalities and it's pretty tragic," said Mountain High marketing director John McColly. "But they all happened to be out of bounds.
"We are doubling our efforts to get that message out now," McColly said. "We want people to stay in bounds. It's posted on the rope boundaries all along the edges of the resort, and it's posted on our Web sites."
Hindsight is always 20-20, McColly said, and the major snowload dumped onto the slopes near Mountain High this week was a rare happening.
Avalanches are unusual in the San Gabriel Mountains, but the peaks had been hit by 3 feet or more of new snow this past week, drawing thousands of skiers and snowboarders.
