Heavy rain and winds sweep through Central California
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On Friday morning, there was so much flooding on the underpass in Pixely at Avenue 96, a big driver spun out and his trailer overturned. The driver said he felt very fortunate to have walked away unhurt. Several other cars who didn't see the water could not make it through and their cars stalled. That area was shut down to one lane and closed for a short time while water was pumped out.
In the South Valley, the strong winds made for a very scary situation in one part of Visalia. In the area of Sue and Clover authorities say a branch caused a power cable to fall on a tree, causing a small fire. No injuries were reported, but the incident caused a power outage in that block.
Authorities also say they have also received several reports of downed trees in that area -- including one on Goshen near Conyer where officials say a tree fell on to a four-plex. Two units were evacuated because the power lines were trapped between the trees and the homes.
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VIDEO - HWY 99 Closed in Delano
VIDEO - Note: HWY 99 in Pixley is now open
Another tree fell onto a house on Cambridge and West. No injuries or power issues have been reported because of those two incidents.
An apartment complex near Fresno Street and Shaw Avenue was being re-roofed, and several units were damaged with rain leaked into the apartments. Crews had to knock a hole in the ceiling of one unit to prevent the water from causing a roof collapse. The Red Cross has been called in to help the impacted residents.
In Fresno County, extremely poor visibility forced the Highway Patrol to shut down Jayne Avenue near Coalinga for several hours.
Flooding has already become an issue in parts of the North Valley. Crews worked last night to pump out water which flooded a parking lot in Gustine. Elsewhere in the city, there was a farmer working for hours to clear up the mud and prevent the growing pools of standing water from getting into his house.
In Madera County, CHP officials said a semi-truck lost control, went through the cement median, and got stuck near Cleveland Avenue. The rig blocked both directions of traffic for a short time. Nobody was hurt.
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Mudflows spur evacuations in Southern California
A soaking storm swept into Southern California, causing several mudslides, flooding streets and cutting power to tens of thousands Friday after lashing the rest of the state with much-needed rain.
Despite the storm's intense arrival, no major disasters were reported in Los Angeles and the surrounding sprawl of cities. Experts say California needs many more such storms to pull out of a drought that has lasted three years.
Of particular concern were hillsides, stripped bare by wildfires, that loom over some neighborhoods. Though the fast-moving storm was projected to clear out east and reach Nevada and Arizona later in the day, the risk remained that sodden topsoil no longer held in place by roots could give way.
In one area, a debris flow brushed aside barriers set up on the slope and surrounded about a dozen homes with silt, sticks, roots and rocks as large as a couch, piling up to the roofline in several backyards.
One of the homes is owned by former Congressman Elton Gallegly.
"There's a lot of memories there" he told KTTV-TV, gesturing to the now-inaccessible house.
A homeowners association in Camarillo, about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles, hired a construction crew to move debris - but the muck buried one of the earth movers.
Mandatory evacuations were ordered for 124 homes, while some people needed help leaving because of property damage, Ventura County sheriff's Capt. Don Aguilar said. Forty people displaced by the mudslide came to an evacuation center, and two were taken to the hospital though their medical issues were not serious, Red Cross spokesman Tom Horan said.
Avalanches of mud and debris also blocked part of the Pacific Coast Highway in Ventura County, weather service specialist Stuart Seto said. Street and freeway flooding snarled morning rush-hour traffic and triggered numerous accidents.
A powerful squall line led the storm's pre-dawn charge. Wind-driven rain fell at the rate of 1 to 2 inches an hour, triggering some flash flooding, the National Weather Service said. The main front followed with rain falling at rates of a tenth to about a third of an inch per hour.
Widely scattered power outages left about 50,000 customers of Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power without electricity, spokesmen for the utilities said.
The storm system was blamed for two deaths in Oregon, thousands of power outages in Washington and flooded roadways in the San Francisco Bay Area.
While the sun rose Friday to dry skies over San Francisco, the storm's affects lingered in Northern California.
In Sonoma County, the Russian River was approaching flood stage Friday morning and was expected to crest several feet above it by early afternoon. Officials advised residents of about 300 homes to evacuate low-lying areas.
Authorities warned of minor flooding along the Sacramento River in Tehama County and Cache Creek in Yolo County.
As the storm crept south down the coast overnight, its powerful winds caused power outages around Santa Barbara. Amtrak suspended service between Los Angeles and the central coast city of San Luis Obispo.
Meanwhile, east of Los Angeles in the suburb of Glendora, the site of the devastating Colby Fire in January, a debris flow was sending rocks the size of golf balls and bricks down streets, police Lt. Matt Williams said. Five people were using an evacuation center but the exact number of people who fled their homes isn't yet known, he said. No injuries or damage to homes were immediately reported.
Possible slides in the neighboring city of Azusa on the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains led to some evacuations.
In Orange County, sheriff's deputies went door to door before dawn to tell residents of fire-scarred Silverado Canyon to evacuate because of rainfall predictions.
Ski resorts in the northern Sierra Nevada were hoping for 3 feet of snow once it all settles.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report
