Heavy rain moved into western Los Angeles County today, dumping about 1.4 inches of rain on the western end of Malibu and marooning about a dozen vehicles on Pacific Coast Highway west of Zuma Beach.
California Highway Patrol officers CHP officers report that 10-15 vehicles are marooned at Sycamore Cove, west of Zuma Beach, by mudslides and rockslides blocking Route 1 both east and west of them. Two to three feet of mud and debris was reported on Pacific Coast Highway at Mugu Rock, and east to Deer Creek Road. This is where cliffs above the road were denuded by the Springs Fire.
California State Parks rangers reported that sharp rocks had wrecked wheels on vehicles traversing between Ventura County and Malibu on PCH. Once debris and rocks began flowing across the highway, it was closed, at 2 p.m.
Heavy rain was limited to the west end of the county today, but the L.A. basin was wetted in places by hit and miss storms.
Winnetka, at the west end of the San Fernando Valley, got .28 inches. Unofficial totals included just .06 in Santa Monica, and downtown L.A. was nearly dry.
The biggest biggest rain clouds of this week, however, were still swirling across the Pacific and threatening to storm ashore Tuesday.
The National Weather Service refined its forecast. The center of the storm might hit the Central California coast, instead of Los Angeles, but 6-8 hours of intense rain was still expected by the federal government, to fall during the day on Tuesday.
As the low pressure system crosses L.A. and heads towards Las Vegas, its tailing quarter will use winds out of the southwest to pump in a large amount of subtropical atmospheric moisture, the NWS said.
This flow “will entrain a large plume of subtropical moisture and aim it right at Southern California,” the NWS said.
Rain amounts on Tuesday were still expected to range from 1-2 inches at the coast and in the valleys to 2-5 inches in the foothills and mountains near Los Angeles. Inland areas will get substantially less rain, the NWS said.
