Flooding, Rain, Douses the Southland

By City News Service

The first rainstorm of the fall doused much of the Southland today, prompting residents to break out their umbrellas and in some cases bringing traffic to a crawl.

The rainfall was carried into the area by an upper-level low-pressure system that swept south and east across the state, with light rain arriving in West Los Angeles about 9:30 a.m. and continuing sporadically throughout the day. Although some neighborhoods were being bathed in sunshine by mid- afternoon, National Weather Service forecasters said some locally "Latest Doppler radar indicated increasing showers across Los Angeles County,'' according to an NWS advisory. "The largest storm cell was affecting the northern San Fernando Valley with a thunderstorm over the city of San Fernando. ... Hourly rainfall rates with this cell were as high as a third of an inch per hour.''

 The storm lowered the snow level in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains to about 5,000 feet, with about 3 inches of snow anticipated in higher elevations.

Downtown Los Angeles has received less than its average rainfall of about 15 inches over the past two winters. In 2011, 8.69 inches fell. Just 5.89 inches fell at the NWS weather station at USC last year, making 2012 the sixth driest on record. Winds were also a big part of the storm, with wind gusting in the 30-to- 40-mph range, bringing the threat of downed tree limbs and power lines, although no major difficulties were reported.

Several thousand addresses lost power in the Venice and South Los Angeles areas as the storm pushed through. The Golden State (5) Freeway was flooded in the Sun Valley area when a storm drain appeared to overflow, sending water and mud cascading onto the roadway near Roscoe Boulevard.

 A wind advisory will be in effect in the Antelope Valley and the San Gabriels in both Los Angeles and Ventura counties until 9 tonight.