Sacramento Area Local News

SACRAMENTO (AP) ― Winter storm warnings are still in effect for parts of the western slope of the Sierra. The alerts will remain active until Monday morning.

The warnings for Yolo, Colusa, Solano, Glenn, Lake and Tehama counties were lifted after 2 to 4 inches of rain fell overnight.

The deluge overran some rural streams and forced brief road closures. But the dangerous urban flooding the weather service had warned of didn't materialize.

The latest in a week's worth of thunderstorms drenched Southern California on Sunday, raising fears of mudslides and flooding, but forecasters said the worst was over.

"Things will start to die down as the night goes on," said National Weather Service forecaster Ryan Kittell. "There's still the potential for some localized thunderstorms but after midnight rain will be confined to the mountains."

Monday will bring a clearing trend, he said.

Up to 3 inches of rain had fallen by early afternoon in valley and coastal areas since nightfall Saturday, with about 4 inches in the mountains, according to forecasters. Wind gusts of 30 to 50 mph were reported in some areas.

Downtown Los Angeles recorded 5.3 inches of rain in the past 7 days, Kittell said.

Officials said the rain brought a threat of serious slides on hillsides stripped of vegetation by last year's wildfires. Voluntary evacuations were in effect in heavily burned Modjeska Canyon in Orange County.

Mud and minor rockslides prompted California Highway Patrol officials to shut Route 78 through a burn area between Ramona and Escondido.

The Los Angeles County and Orange County fire departments were on standby for possible flash floods and slides. Flash flood watches remained in effect through Sunday night for Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties.

To avoid overflow, the flood gates at the Big Tujunga Dam in the San Gabriel Mountains were opened Sunday morning, releasing 500 cubic feet of water a second. Department of Public Works spokesman Gary Boze said the controlled flooding was routine during heavy storms.

In downtown Los Angeles, Sunday's basketball game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the L.A. Lakers was delayed 12 minutes after a small leak in the Staples Center roof allowed a steady flow of water to fall on the court.

The Santa Anita race track in Arcadia, meanwhile, canceled horse races for the sixth day this month because of wet conditions on the synthetic track.

The storm system also soaked parts of Northern California and the weather service posted winter storm warnings for parts of the Sierra Nevada.

Highway 92 was shut down between Skyline Boulevard and Half Moon Bay in the mountains south of San Francisco following several days of rain.

About 2,700 Pacific Gas and Electric customers in the Bay Area still lacked power Sunday due to earlier storms, a spokesman for the utility said.

A series of fierce storms has caused deadly avalanches, flooded streets and set off mud and rock slides in recent days. Some areas have received more moisture in a week than during the entire rainy season last year.

Three skiers were killed Friday by a trio of avalanches that swept through canyons outside the trails of Mountain High ski resort at Wrightwood, northeast of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Mountains.

One of the victims, veteran character actor Christopher Allport, was a passionate backcountry skier who had been in the area many times before without incident, according to friends.

Allport, 60, "was a tremendously conscientious skier. He was never, ever reckless," Allport's friend Jordan Roberts said Sunday.

Allport had appeared on dozens of TV shows, including "ER," "Felicity" and "Matlock."

A fourth man escaped the avalanches.

Avalanches are unusual in the San Gabriel Mountains, but the peaks had been hit by 3 feet or more of new snow this past week, drawing thousands of skiers and snowboarders.

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