Monday, January 18, 2010

Heavy Rain in California, Home Evacuations

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Four winter storms are slamming into Southern California, dumping record rain on the Los Angeles area where only months before raging fires burned away mountainside ground cover. 160 homes were evacuated early Monday. The order was later lifted in the afternoon. The evacuation orders were called because communities below wildfire-scarred mountains are at risk of debris flows and flash floods. Some flash flooding has hit the La Canada-Flintridge area, the Sunland-Tujunga area and in Sierra Madre.

The heaviest rain from the first storm is expected late Monday and overnight, with a second powerful storm moving in on Tuesday. The most intense rainfall is expected from the third storm on Thursday. The fourth storm may swing wide and leave the area rain-free over the weekend.

Snowfall is expected in the foothills as low as 3,000 feet, adding to a currently below-average snowpack, while making travel hazardous.

More than 53,000 customers have lost power because of the rain in Southern California, primarily in the mountain areas north of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, as well as the high-desert region.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

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