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After dampening Southern California the previous day, the first significant storm of the season continued to drench the region on Tuesday morning, with heavy bursts of rain and wind causing power outages and road closures.
It was unclear how much the inclement weather was going to deter voters on election day. Polls opened at 7 a.m. under gray skies and widespread rain.
Rain is expected across the Los Angeles Basin throughout the day, with heavy bursts likely between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
Coastal and valley areas could see up to 3 inches of rain, with up to 5 inches in the lower mountain areas. Afternoon precipitation could raise those totals by several inches, weather experts said.
“This is a storm we normally see in January,” said Todd Hall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “It’s a great opportunity for some rain.”
The storm is also bringing plenty of advisories, he added.
A winter storm warning is in effect for the mountains of Los Angeles and Ventura counties through 10 a.m. Wednesday, with gusty winds and heavy snowfall in the forecast. Snow will be at about 7,000 feet, Hall said, with 8 to 14 inches expected in the Los Angeles County mountains. About 20 inches could fall on the highest peaks.
By Tuesday night, snow levels could drop to around 5,000 feet, creating potentially hazardous conditions along the Tejon Pass on the 5 Freeway and the Soledad Pass on the 14 Freeway between Santa Clarita and Palmdale, meteorologists said.
A high wind warning for the Antelope Valley will remain in effect until 10 p.m. Tuesday, the weather service said. Southwest winds of 30-45 mph, with gusts up to 70 mph, are expected.
Rainfall rates of around half an inch per hour are expected between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., with the potential for brief periods of up to three-quarters of an inch per hour, the weather service said.
“We are concerned about heavy rainfall leading to flash floods and mud and debris flows,” Hall said.
Officials in Duarte issued a mandatory evacuation order Monday night for about 25 homes in the burn scar left by the Fish fire in June. Streets will be closed, and Duarte Transit Service will be suspended through Tuesday and possibly into Wednesday, officials said. The Duarte Community Center at 1600 Huntington Drive has been serving as an evacuation site for displaced residents since Monday night.
Orange County and portions of the Inland Empire also were getting soaked Tuesday. The weather service also issued a flash flood watch for the Bond and Silverado burn scar areas through Wednesday morning.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department escalated voluntary evacuations warning Tuesday morning into mandatory evacuation orders for Silverado Canyon, Williams Canyon and Modjeska in the Bond fire burn area, in the foothills of the Santa Ana mountains. A shelter is set up at the Norman P. Murray Community and Senior Center at 24932 Veterans Way in Mission Viejo, a spokesperson for the OCSD said.
Flash flood warnings were in effect for the Apple and El Dorado burn scar areas in Riverside and San Bernardino counties until 1 p.m. Tuesday, weather experts said.
The communities of Oak Glen, Forest Falls, Mountain Home Village, Angelus Oaks and Northeast Yucaipa in the Apple and El Dorado fire burn areas are subject to evacuation warning Tuesday, Yucaipa police said in a tweet.
About 2 inches of rain had already fallen over parts of the coastal slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains by 8 a.m. Tuesday. Crest Park has recorded the highest rainfall total so far — 2.64 inches, weather officials said.
The rain also affected operations at several Southern California amusement parks. Legoland in Carlsbad and Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park were both closed on Tuesday, and several rides at Disneyland, including Alice in Wonderland and the Jungle Cruise, were not operating because of the rain, park officials said.
Several roads were underwater on Tuesday. According to Caltrans, two hotspots were State Route 110 at Via Marisol near Highland Park, where flooding across all lanes led to stopped traffic. A vacuum truck was called in to clear the road, and all traffic was being diverted at Avenue 60, according to a spokesperson for Caltrans District 7, which includes Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.
The right lane on the southbound I-5 from Branford Street to Sheldon Street/Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Pacoima was closed due to flooding and drainage work related to the storm, Caltrans said.
Heavy rainfall caused a creek bed to swell near the Cajon Pass on the 15 Freeway, between Fontana and the high desert, where San Bernardino County Fire’s swift water team rescued a man whose vehicle was overcome by water. The surge forced the man out of the sunroof and eventually swept the car nearly a quarter of a mile down the road, said Mike McClintock, battalion chief with San Bernardino County Fire. The man was not injured, McClintock said.
Another major concern is the wind, said Casey Oswant, a weather service meteorologist in San Diego.
“We are expecting strong winds from the coast into the deserts,” Oswant said. Gusts of up to 45 mph are expected for coastal Orange County, enough to topple trees. Gusts reaching 70 mph could tear through the San Bernardino County mountains.
“The two main impacts are the rain and the wind,” Oswant said. “Snow will still be an impact, but not until later tonight, and it will mainly be above 6,000 or 7,000 feet.”
In Northern California, heavy snow hit the Sierra Nevada, and a winter storm warning was in effect through Wednesday morning, weather experts said. At least 17 inches of snow hit King Vale along Interstate 80 west of Truckee, and 16.3 inches was recorded at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Laboratory in Soda Springs, with more snowfall expected to accumulate throughout the day.
It’s not unusual for a storm to dump snow on the Sierra this time of year, said Scott Rowe, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. Once the storm passes, it’s likely to “be the season’s heaviest snowfall to date,” Rowe said.
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Alexandra E. Petri
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