A flash-flood warning mistakenly went out to a far larger area than intended as a heavy storm continued to lash Southern California on Tuesday, officials said.
The warning, which was meant for about 1,500 people in the Fish fire burn area east of Duarte, went wide when a “glitch” changed the small, targeted area to all of L.A. County, according to the National Weather Service. The warning was canceled, and a corrected warning for the burn scar area was sent.
The L.A. County registrar’s office sought to keep voters from being deterred to heading out to polls, noting in a tweet at 4:40 p.m. that officials confirmed the flooding threat was “for a very isolated area.”
“Vote Centers and Ballot Drop Boxes remain open until 8PM and voter participation is encouraged,” the tweet said.
Tuesday morning, one person was killed and two people were missing after rushing stormwater washed away a group of people in Ontario as rain pounded the region.
The incident was reported around 9:45 a.m. in the wash in the 1200 block of East 4th Street in Ontario, officials said.
Six people, who were believed to have been living in the wash, were swept up in a flash of water after steady rains soaked the region.
Rescuers lined the wash for a search and rescue operation and pulled three people out of the water by noon.
An unidentified man was found dead in a drainage basin, officials said. Two people remained unaccounted for as search efforts continued throughout the afternoon.
In the San Bernardino Mountains, heavy rainfall caused a creek bed to swell near the Cajon Pass on the 15 Freeway, between Fontana and the high desert, where the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District’s swift water team rescued a man whose vehicle was overcome by water.
The surge forced the man out of the sunroof and eventually swept the car nearly a quarter of a mile down the road, said Mike McClintock, battalion chief with San Bernardino County Fire. The man was not injured, McClintock said.
A lower pressure system off the coast sent moisture into the area and drove the storm, which is expected to last until Wednesday, meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Oxnard said.
The wet weather and strong winds created dangerous commuting conditions Tuesday, leading to submerged roads, downed trees and some traffic collisions, and it raised concerns around flooding in recent burn scar areas.
As of 4 p.m., downtown Los Angeles had received more than 1.60 inches of rain, Los Angeles International Airport received more than 1.25 inches and the Van Nuys Airport received nearly 1.10 inches.
“This is a storm we normally see in January,” said Todd Hall, a meteorologist with the weather service in Oxnard . “It’s a great opportunity for some rain.”
In Northern California, the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office reported that a weak tornado with winds of 70 mph had touched down around 1:40 p.m. near Galt, southeast of Sacramento. A barn’s tin roof was blown off, windows on a bus were blown out, and some power lines were downed, according to preliminary law enforcement reports.
A winter storm warning was in effect for the mountains of Los Angeles and Ventura counties through 10 a.m. Wednesday, with gusty winds and heavy snowfall in the forecast. Snow was expected at elevations at or above 7,000 feet.
Snow levels could drop to around 5,000 feet Tuesday night, creating potentially hazardous conditions along the Tejon Pass on the 5 Freeway and the Soledad Pass on the 14 Freeway between Santa Clarita and Palmdale, meteorologists said.
But the chances of snow sticking to the 5 were low, the weather service said.
A high wind warning for the Antelope Valley will remain in effect until 10 p.m. Tuesday, the weather service said. Southwest winds of 30-45 mph, with gusts up to 70 mph, are expected.
“Winds have been impressive in the LA mountains with multiple 80+ mph reports from automated weather stations with some of that wind getting into the Antelope Valley foothills,” the weather service said Tuesday afternoon.
Officials in Duarte issued a mandatory evacuation order Monday night for about 25 homes in the burn scar left by the Fish fire in June. Streets will be closed, and Duarte Transit Service will be suspended through Tuesday and possibly into Wednesday, officials said. The Duarte Community Center at 1600 Huntington Drive has been serving as an evacuation site for displaced residents since Monday night.
Orange County and portions of the Inland Empire were also soaked Tuesday. The weather service issued a flash flood watch for the Bond and Silverado burn scar areas through Wednesday morning.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department escalated voluntary evacuations warning Tuesday morning into mandatory evacuation orders for Silverado Canyon, Williams Canyon and Modjeska in the Bond fire burn area, in the foothills of the Santa Ana mountains. A shelter is set up at the Norman P. Murray Community and Senior Center at 24932 Veterans Way in Mission Viejo, a spokesperson for the OCSD said.
Flash flood warnings were in effect for the Apple and El Dorado burn scar areas in Riverside and San Bernardino counties until 1 p.m. Tuesday, weather experts said.
The communities of Oak Glen, Forest Falls, Mountain Home Village, Angelus Oaks and Northeast Yucaipa in the Apple and El Dorado fire burn areas are subject to evacuation warning Tuesday, Yucaipa police said in a tweet.
About 2 inches of rain had already fallen over parts of the coastal slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains by 8 a.m. Tuesday. Crest Park has recorded the highest rainfall total so far — 2.64 inches, weather officials said.
It was unclear how much the inclement weather was going to deter voters on election day. Polls opened at 7 a.m. under gray skies and widespread rain.
The rain also affected operations at several Southern California amusement parks. Legoland in Carlsbad and Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park were both closed on Tuesday, and several rides at Disneyland, including Alice in Wonderland and the Jungle Cruise, were not operating because of the rain, park officials said.
Several roads were underwater on Tuesday.
According to Caltrans, two hotspots were State Route 110 at Via Marisol near Highland Park, where flooding across all lanes led to stopped traffic. A vacuum truck was called in to clear the road, and all traffic was being diverted at Avenue 60, according to a spokesperson for Caltrans District 7, which includes Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.
The roadway’s drainage system had become clogged and the roadway remained closed as of 4 p.m., officials said.
While snow was not an issue on the 5 Freeway, an overturned big rig nonetheless snarled traffic on the southbound side of the roadway near Lebec.
All southbound lanes were closed past Vista Del Lago Road with vehicles being rerouted to the 134 as of 5 p.m.
Another major concern is the wind, said Casey Oswant, a weather service meteorologist in San Diego.
“We are expecting strong winds from the coast into the deserts,” Oswant said. Gusts of up to 45 mph are expected for coastal Orange County, enough to topple trees. Gusts reaching 70 mph could tear through the San Bernardino County mountains.
“The two main impacts are the rain and the wind,” Oswant said. “Snow will still be an impact, but not until later tonight, and it will mainly be above 6,000 or 7,000 feet.”
In Northern California, heavy snow hit the Sierra Nevada, and a winter storm warning was in effect through Wednesday morning, weather experts said. At least 17 inches of snow hit King Vale along Interstate 80 west of Truckee, and 16.3 inches was recorded at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Laboratory in Soda Springs, with more snowfall expected to accumulate throughout the day.
It’s not unusual for a storm to dump snow on the Sierra this time of year, said Scott Rowe, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. Once the storm passes, it’s likely to “be the season’s heaviest snowfall to date,” Rowe said.
Times staff writer Gregory Yee contributed to this report.
