Dec 6, 2007 10:22 pm US/Pacific
Storms Easing, Evacuation Orders Lifted
SoCal Escapes Mudslide Danger As Winter Storm Passes
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
A cold, fast-moving storm churned up monster winds in the Southland on Friday and raised fears of mudslides and flash flooding in burn areas but generated less rain than had been expected.
By 9 a.m., the storm's main rain event had come and gone, and only scattered showers were expected over the rest of the day, according to the National Weather Service. Mandatory evacuation orders were lifted as barely one half inch of rain fell across the newly fire scarred canyons in Orange County.
The chance of precipitation in the form of showers was set at 50 percent for daytime hours Friday, falling to 30 percent Friday night and 20 percent Saturday.
Because of strong winds, "the main rain event has been moving a little faster than we thought," said National Weather Service weather specialist Stuart Seto.
Rainfall amounts had been forecast by NWS meteorologists to range between a half-inch and an inch across coastal and valley locations, and between one and three inches at the foothills and in the mountains, with the densest rainfall expected on the south-facing slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains.
But because the storm moved even more rapidly than was anticipated, "we didn't get as much rain as we originally thought," Seto said. He said between a half-inch and six-tenths of an inch fell at lower elevations while mountain areas got up to one-and-a-quarter inch.
At higher elevations, the snow level was expected to start out above 6,500 feet, possibly dropping to around 5,000 feet later today. Still, NWS meteorologists Friday morning sharply lowered their snowfall-accumulation projections.
The heaviest snowfall accumulations will occur above 7,000 feet, according to the NWS. But while more than a foot of new snow had been expected above 7,000 feet, the new forecast was for 3-6 inches, Seto said.
Mountain resorts between 6,000 and 7,000 feet had been expecting 3-6 inches, but those projections were reduced to 1-2 inches.
The storm raised fears of mudslides and flash flooding in burn areas, especially the Malibu and Orange County canyons stricken by wildfires since October.
No mudslides, debris flows or flash flooding were reported as of mid-morning Friday, but a flash flood watch was to remain in effect through Friday afternoon in the region's burn areas.
If the rainfall associated with the first winter storm of the season turned out to be far less significant than had been expected, the high-wind projections did not disappoint.
At Lake Palmdale, for instance, gusts of 74 miles per hour -- one mile above hurricane force -- were recorded Friday morning. A high wind warning -- scheduled to expire at 6 p.m. -- was declared for the Antelope Valley and Los Angeles County mountain areas.
Before the rain arrived, residents of about 1,000 homes in fire-ravaged Modjeska, Williams and Silverado canyons in Orange County were under mandatory orders to evacuate their homes no later than 8 p.m. Thursday night in case the storm produced flash flooding and mud slides. That evacuation order was cancelled Friday morning as the rains were not as heavy as was forecasted and mudslides did not occur.
Anticipating the possibility of storm-related incidents, the Orange County Sheriff's Department, the Orange County Fire Authority and the county's Resources Development and Management Department on Thursday had set up a unified command center at Irvine Regional Park.
The Oct. 21 Santiago arson wildfire charred some 28,000 acres in Orange County and burned two dozen homes. Hardest hit were the county's canyon areas. In Los Angeles County, the five major fires that broke out October -- two in Malibu and three in Santa Clarita -- consumed more than a total 100,000 acres.
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