Storm Damages San Clemente Apartment Building

A powerful winter storm brought heavy rain and strong winds to the Southland today, sending trees, power lines and poles crashing onto vehicles, roads and freeways, some of which were briefly inundated with floodwater.

More than 3.7 inches of rain fell on the mountains, though no mudflows were reported in recent burn areas.

Winds topped 70 miles per hour in some areas as a strong squall line of rain blew through the region, leaving cold winds in its wake.

Firefighters were kept busy as today’s powerful rainstorm moved through Orange County, downing trees and wires that sparked several fires.

No serious injuries were reported, but with strong rain and high winds battering the region between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., firefighters responded to:

-- 29 calls of wires down;

-- three transformer fires in Santa Ana and two more in Placentia and Los Alamitos;

-- two tree fires in Placentia;

-- a fence on fire in Santa Ana; and

-- an awning through the window of an apartment in San Clemente, according to Capt. Steve Concialdi, public information officer with the Orange County Fire Authority.

There were another seven calls for trees that had fallen onto roadways or vehicles, a ladder into wires, a metal roof into wires and a rain gutter into wires, the captain said.

“We were extremely busy this afternoon,” Concialdi said.

Sandbags are available at all Orange County Fire Authority stations and 18 stations also have sand available for residents looking to prepare for the next round of El Nino-driven rains, Concialdi said.

The forecast was for the rain to exit the region by early Monday with rain and snow showers lingering in some mountain areas.

Snow levels will be at around the 7,000 feet level, dropping to as low as 5,500 feet by late today, according to the National Weather Service. As cold air moves into the region tonight, snow levels could drop as low as 2,500 on some mountain slopes.

City News Service