California dries off after fierce spring storm

By ROBERT JABLON Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Californians are looking forward to a drier forecast Tuesday as they toweled off from a fierce storm that lingered into the workweek.

The pouring rain that prompted mud and debris flows in Los Angeles over the weekend was predicted to give way to a sunny sky, while snowbound campsites of Yosemite National Park expected a few flurries at most.

"The storm is pretty much over with," said Bonnie Bartling of the National Weather Service, adding that a far weaker system was due to reach the state Wednesday.

The calm was a blessing after an onslaught of rain that stranded 32 hikers as well as hundreds of drivers along a major freeway, and closed roads into Yosemite National Park.

Three people were treated for hypothermia, Ventura County sheriff's Deputy Shane Matthews said.

Another group of nearly 100 teens and youngsters was stuck at a snowed-in mountain campground in the park until crews cleared roads using snow plows.

Farther south, four people were rescued from the roof of an SUV in Thousand Oaks when they tried to ford a rain-swollen flood-control channel.

Yosemite National Park officials said roads into the park would remain closed Tuesday as crews repair downed power lines and clear fallen trees.

Officials said power was out across Yosemite Valley and all but 150 park visitors were evacuated after the storm dropped more than 3.5 feet of snow.

Snow and ice also closed Interstate 5 for more than 12 hours, forcing travelers to spend the night at motels, gas stations or along the side of the main route linking Southern and Northern California until authorities began escorting traffic through a pass. That section of I-5 known as the Grapevine often closes during bad weather.

Although hillsides stood up well in the Southern California foothill communities considered at risk of mudslides, as many as 30 people in the Woodland Hills area were evacuated after mud and debris flowed over a retaining wall and threatened six homes. All were allowed home early Monday, although some found their backyards filled with brown goo.

"We have debris flow, flooding, electrical wires down, trees that fell onto cars and structures in addition to increased traffic collisions," Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Erik Scott said.

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Associated Press writers John Rogers, Andrew Dalton, Marcus Wohlsen and Gosia Wozniacka contributed to this report.