Officials order evacuations before 3rd SoCal storm

[February 04, 2010]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- After two days of lightening, flooding and even a tornado, officials tried to get ahead of the next round of powerful storms that are pummeling Southern California by ordering evacuations in mudslide-prone foothill neighborhoods.

Los Angeles police officers went door-to-door in the Tujunga neighborhood late Tuesday, handing out flyers and asking residents of about 200 homes to be out of their homes by Wednesday morning.

With debris basins full and the fire-scorched soil saturated, Los Angeles County fire officials plan to issue mandatory evacuation orders for about 600 homes beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday in anticipation of the third and longer drenching.

The foothills have received almost 5 inches of rain since Sunday and Wednesday's storm is predicted to drop 4 to 8 inches on the area, Department of Public Works Director Gail Farber said.

County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman begged residents to heed their evacuations orders. He said public safety officials are racing against Mother Nature.

"And if she wins the race there's no way we can assure that firefighters, as well-equipped and as trained as they are, will be able to get into your neighborhood and make rescues," Freeman said.

Residents were told to be prepared to be away from their homes for as many as five days.

In the foothills of La Canada Flintridge, just north of Los Angeles, County Public Works crews used bulldozers and shovels to move mud out of cul-de-sacs. The storm left fist-sized rocks strewn across a winding, canyon road.

One resident, Gary Stibal, had lined his backyard with sandbags a couple of feet high to divert the floodwater. His hard work kept out the rocks and debris on Tuesday, but Stibal, whose home was threatened by one of last year's wildfires, said he was worried that water from the third storm would reach his home.

"The ground is really saturated right now from the two storms we had come through yesterday and today, so I'm really concerned," he said as he surveyed his work.

The storm did serious damage Tuesday, crushing a woman to death with a fallen tree, flooding coastal neighborhoods and leaving thousands without power as lightning and tornados surged ashore with fierce winds in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles County beach towns and areas of Orange and San Diego counties.

San Diego sheriff's Lt. Mike Munsey said a woman was killed when a eucalyptus tree with a 10-foot diameter trunk crushed her trailer and a neighbor's in a mobile home park near El Cajon. On Monday, a man was killed near Bakersfield when a tree fell on his home.

In San Pedro, a working class neighborhood near the Port of Los Angeles, several blocks were flooded with about six feet of water when storm drains clogged with debris. Police said 16 people were displaced from flooded homes.

Jerry Bazan spent the afternoon sweeping several inches of water out of his living room, where toys, sodden clothing and furniture were strewn about and a thick layer of mud coated the floor. The water rose quickly in his apartment and some of it was contaminated with sewage.

"It was a heavy downpour, and the drainage system was clogged," he said. "There was nowhere for the water to go, and it just rose up."

A small tornado flipped a parked SUV onto its side and blew out windows in Seal Beach.

Flash flood watches remained for areas of Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties where wildfires in 2008 and last year stripped hillsides down to bare, black earth.

A strong jet stream was sending the line of storms ashore from the Pacific Ocean, with the wet weather expected to continue through Thursday.

[Associated Press; By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON]

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