Rain-soaked California braces for new storm

Forecasters expected heavy rain to move into Arizona, Utah and Nevada, but the focus clearly was on Southern California, where a monster storm was expected to bring torrential rain, thunderstorms, flooding, hail and possible tornadoes.

Officials warned of possible rainfall rates of up to an inch (2.5 centimeters) an hour and thunderstorm rates of 2 inches (5 centimeters) an hour in the region.

Steady rain began falling late Tuesday and was expected to intensify.

"It's going to be a three-ring circus," said National Weather Service spokesman Bill Hoffer. "There's going to be a six-hour time frame in the early morning when it's really going to be dumping on us." A rain-soaked hillside collapsed on part of a busy Interstate 10 transition road Wednesday as overwhelmed drains left hubcap-deep pools of water on roadways littered with fender-bender crashes.

In Orange County, rain-loosened boulders and mud blocked access to mountain homes in Silverado Canyon near the Cleveland National Forest, where firefighters were helping evacuate 25 to 30 people whose homes were threatened by rolling boulders and debris flows.

More than 30 people were rescued Wednesday morning from stranded cars and homes in hillside areas of Laguna Beach and adjoining Laguna Woods.

Officials on Tuesday ordered evacuation of 232 homes in La Canada Flintridge and La Crescenta, suburbs of Los Angeles below steep hillsides that burned in 2009 and where mudslides inundated homes and backyards in February; Kazinform cites Arab News.

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