LOS ANGELES _ An overnight rainstorm wreaked havoc across Southern California on Friday morning as it flooded freeways, triggered mud flows, and forced the closure of a major thoroughfare to Los Angeles International Airport.
The storm, which also prompted the rescue of two women in the San Gabriel River, began in San Luis Obispo County the previous afternoon and dumped more than five inches of rain there in 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service. By Friday morning, the storm had moved into Los Angeles County, pouring well over an inch of rain in the mountains, valleys and downtown.
The downpour was heavy enough that it triggered a minor mud flow in Duarte, where two brush fires had torn through the foothills earlier this year. The mud flow forced the closure of Valley View Elementary School.
Commuters heading to LAX in the morning were forced to avoid La Cienega Boulevard where it meets Fairview Boulevard, after more than a foot of water filled the street and forced the Los Angeles Police Department to close the area, police said.
Meanwhile, the muddy westbound 210 Freeway transition to the northbound 5 Freeway was closed until noon after a big rig turned on its side about 6 a.m., the California Highway Patrol said.
Steady rain overnight brought a slew of big rig accidents, one of them fatal, to Los Angeles-area freeways and triggered at least one swift-water rescue, authorities said Friday.
One person was killed when a big rig overturned on the transition road from the westbound 105 Freeway to the northbound 710 Freeway in Paramount, said California Highway Patrol Officer Dion Conley. The accident was called in at 1:21 a.m.
Crews had cleared the roadway by 5 a.m., Conley said.
But as fast as authorities can clear freeway lanes, wayward drivers clog them up again.
"On the way to work I passed three spin-outs," said CHP Officer Peter Nicholson. "There's a lot of stuff happening out there."
Highlighting the troubles Southern California drivers have with the rain, Nicholson said there were 165 collisions reported between 7 p.m. and midnight Thursday in Los Angeles County, when the rain had arrived. There were only 54 crashes during the same time period last week when it was dry, he said.
The National Weather Service reported that in a one-hour window early Friday cars were stuck in water on the 110 Freeway near Highland Park and on the 710 Freeway near its connection with the 5 Freeway, and that mud had begun to flow into the streets of Duarte.
Meanwhile, about 40 L.A. County firefighters rushed to El Monte after 5 a.m. to rescue two homeless women stranded on an island in the San Gabriel River where it meets the 60 Freeway, authorities said. Footage from news outlets showed the women were hoisted into an L.A. County Sheriff's Department helicopter. Also evacuated from the raging waters was a bucket-load of five shivering Chihuahua puppies.
