- Several dozen homes in the town of Wrightwood were left with mud damage.
- Atmospheric flood subsides after three days of torrential rain.
- A flood watch remains in effect for much of the Los Angeles area.
Three days of heavy rains that spawned flash floods and mudslides in Southern California eased Friday as residents of homes in the hard-hit mountain resort of Wrightwood began digging out mud and assessing damage.
The holiday storm drenched the greater Los Angeles basin with up to 6 inches of rain by Friday, with 12 inches or more measured in lower mountains east of the city, according to the National Weather Service.
The deluge, which began around Christmas Eve, was spawned by the region’s latest atmospheric flood storm, a large airborne stream of dense moisture that sucked from the Pacific Ocean and was carried inland.
The torrential downpours were accompanied by strong gusts of wind that toppled trees and power lines across the region and caused power outages. Heavy snow fell in the upper mountain areas.
Even before the storm hit, authorities issued evacuation warnings for neighborhoods considered vulnerable to flash flooding and debris flows, particularly near hillsides previously ravaged by wildfires. Motorists were urged to avoid traveling whenever possible.
Although rainfall eased Friday, a flash flood watch remained in effect for much of Southern California.
Home swallowed in mud
In Wrightwood, a town of about 5,000 that bore the brunt of the storm in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles, county safety inspectors began initial property loss assessments.
Several dozen homes were heavily damaged by mudslides that swept through the city Wednesday, and officials were on standby for additional debris flows that could occur, San Bernardino County Fire Department spokesman Ryan Beckers said.
“Evacuation warnings for Wrightwood are still in effect and all roads in the area are closed except to residents,” he said.
Misty Cheng, 49, an accountant who owns a vacation home in Wrightwood, said she learned the property was engulfed in a mudslide from a neighbor who sent her video footage.
“My house is buried in more than 5 feet of mud,” Cheng said, speaking to Reuters by cellphone from her primary residence in nearby Upland, where she was staying when the slide happened.
A stream of mud had entered the house through a broken wall in the attached garage and filled the living room. By the time she ventured back to the property herself to see the damage firsthand and salvage some belongings, the mud had hardened into a mound solid enough for her to stand on.
“I was able to get a truckload of personal belongings” out of the house, mostly from the second floor, which was left untouched, she said. Without flood insurance, Cheng said she started a GoFundMe page to raise money for repairs.
Aerial video footage posted online by the fire department showed clusters of homes and vehicles in the city entangled in walls of mud as crews in front-end loaders began clearing clogged roads.
Beckers said emergency crews rescued a few dozen people trapped by high water and debris flows in their vehicles or homes during the holiday, but no deaths or serious injuries were reported in Wrightwood.
The weather service said Southern California was expected to dry out over the weekend, while a major winter storm across the country threatened to begin dumping record snow levels over parts of New York state starting Friday night.
