Nightmare in Southern California

Torrential rains sweep in from Pacific, killing at least 24

To meteorologists, it was an unusual phenomenon: a "tropical connection." Storm after storm formed over the northern Pacific Ocean, picked up moisture from the tropics and rushed toward the West Coast on 150-m.p.h. jet streams. To Southern Californians, it was nothing less than a nightmare. Six times in nine days, storms struck, dumping nearly 13 in. of rain, killing at least 24 people and causing damage estimated at $425 million.

Worst hit were the chic canyons in the Santa Monica Mountains to the north and east of downtown Los Angeles. The hills are home to some of the area's wealthiest and most famous people, who live in semi-rural splendor in houses on the canyon bottoms, surrounded by oak trees and chaparral, or in hillside houses perched on stilts. Since fires--another scourge of the well-to-do Angelenos--have destroyed much of the vegetation in past years, the earth was quickly saturated by the rains. It turned into avalanches of mud that swept down the hillsides.

On Lookout Mountain Hill, a mudslide destroyed two houses and left the $1.25 million mansion of famed Divorce Lawyer Marvin Mitchelson tottering on the edge of a cliff and in danger of being washed away by the next storm. He was resigned to losing the house, which engineers doubted could be saved. He quipped, "I can live in my office, I can practice law in the courthouse and I don't see my wife much anyway."

But other canyon residents worked desperately to save their property. In Mandeville Canyon, Beverly Hills Psychologist Philip Flexo and his wife Pat shoveled day and night to divert a stream of mud and water from their $250,000 home. No matter what happened to the house, Flexo vowed not to leave the canyon permanently. Said he: "We moved here to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Despite the fires, rains, flood and muds, I won't move."

In Monterey Park, Joanna Dressier was packing suitcases to flee when she heard a thud. Said she: "I looked outside and saw my husband and two friends being pushed by the mud against and underneath a car. I couldn't get the front door open, so I bashed a window. I threw my dogs out, then I jumped out." Her husband and friends survived, but her house was badly damaged. Ray Linton, another Monterey Park resident, salvaged little more than a stereo, a couple of cans of honey and some dented pans from his house, which collapsed. For drinking water, some people had to tap their hot tubs.

To the south of Los Angeles, 9-ft. waves caused a section of the Pacific Coast Highway to collapse, isolating the wealthy beachfront town of Malibu. Because of a power failure, the Tapia Treatment Plant shut down, causing 15,000 gal. per min. of raw sewage to flow down Malibu Creek to the ocean and forcing officials to close beaches along 25 miles of shore, as far south as Marina Del Rey. In Redondo Beach, harbor officials scuttled the Lady Alexandra, a 225-ft. ship converted into a restaurant and disco. Storm-whipped waves had turned the ship on its side, and officials feared the vessel might break its mooring cables and block the channel.

All 6,500 residents fled San Jacinto when the flood-swollen river that runs through town burst its levees. Said Jane Hoff of the town officials' warning to leave: "They came through with a fire truck and a loudspeaker. I was scared to death." In Palm Springs, levees burst along the Palm Canyon Wash and 1,000 people were sent to evacuation centers. Governor Jerry Brown sent 100 National Guardsmen to prevent looting.

Farther to the south, the San Diego River, normally just a trickle, flooded the city's biggest hotel and shopping district. Six reservoirs swelled to their highest levels since 1941. Medical supplies and food had to be airlifted to 200 families marooned in nearby De Luz when the Margarita River overflowed its banks. In Phoenix, Ariz., the Salt River, which is normally dry at this time of year, turned into a torrent, cutting off all but two of 13 crossings into the city from the suburbs.

At week's end the rain ended, and Jimmy Carter declared the worst hit sections of California and Arizona disaster areas, making residents eligible for federal loans to rebuild their homes.

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