Rain to continue showering SCV
Inclement weather brings mudslides, debris flows, flooding and car crashes
More rain turned into more traffic collisions, mudslides, debris flows and flooding for the Santa Clarita Valley on Thursday.
As quickly as the rain hit — reported as a heavy downpour in places — it was gone.
Now, first responders are bracing for a storm this weekend.
“The rain today didn’t pose as bad a traffic collision problem as the previous one,” California Highway Patrol Officer Eric Preissman said Thursday.
“There was an uptick in collisions, as is to be, unfortunately, expected, but the storm seemed to pass through pretty quickly.
“Things got back to normal in a reasonable amount of time,” Preissman said. “With the approaching storm this weekend,
I’d like to ask our drivers out there to remember to leave more space between you and the car ahead of you and give yourself more time to get to your destination.
“The less rushed you feel, the more likely you’ll drive in a safer manner, and let everyone get to where they’re going safely.”
About an inch and a half of rain fell on the Santa Clarita Valley in a 48-hour period ending at 3 p.m. Thursday, said Meteorologist Kristen Stewart of the National Weather Service office in Oxnard.
“It looks like another storm is coming your way on Friday, dropping out of British Columbia, but it’s a relatively dry system,” she said. “Santa Clarita will probably see about a quarter of an inch of rain.”
Saturday and Sunday are forecast to have a chance of showers.
The rain that fell Thursday was not without consequence.
A big rig and a car collided in the northbound lanes of Interstate 5, near Magic Mountain Parkway, shortly before 8:40 a.m. It was one of at least a half-dozen traffic collisions on the freeway Thursday morning.
There was no report, however, of serious injury, according to Austin Bennett, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Mud and rockslides were reported at three spots along Soledad Canyon Road at the mouth of the tunnel at Capra Road, at Sierra Highway and at Agua Dulce Canyon Road.
The rockslide at the tunnel covered one lane and sent rocks across the other lane.
“There had been a significant downpour of rainfall for at least an hour,” said Michelle Goertz, who encountered the rockslide. “As I approached the exit of the tunnel, I noticed a large rockslide that encompassed both lanes of Soledad Canyon Road.
“I was able to gingerly guide my trusty vehicle through the large jutting rocks on the roadway. There were other areas along Soledad Canyon Road that encountered rockslides, although this particular one was the worst for today,” she added.
Motorists reporting the incident to the California Highway Patrol said some motorists got out of their vehicles and began removing rocks and debris.
“We had a city tree fall into the southbound lane of traffic on McBean Parkway at Del Monte (Drive),” said Carrie Lujan, spokeswoman for the city of Santa Clarita.
“We have cleared to the right of way and will return in a bit with a chipper to remove the debris that has been staged in the turf parkway,” she said, noting there was no report of damage or injury.
Caltrans crews were called out to reports of flooding on the I-5 at Rye Canyon Road.
Officers with the California Highway Patrol responded to traffic collisions, many of them solo-vehicle spinouts, including a report of a black Audi spinning out in the northbound lanes of Highway 14 near the I-5 connector lane at 9 a.m.
Shortly before 9:30 a.m., a gray Toyota truck spun out in the southbound lanes of Highway 14 at Escondido Canyon Road, hitting the center divider.