More Rain Expected; Mudslide Kills Pair

A powerful storm lumbered off to the east on Tuesday after dropping more than three inches of rain on some parts of the Los Angeles area, and forecasters said more wet weather is on the way.

Although no deaths were attributed directly to the weather in Southern California, a husband and wife were killed Tuesday in Tijuana in a storm-induced mudslide.

Jose Mora, 32, and his 29-year-old wife, Consuelo, died when a concrete wall on a hillside collapsed onto their small wood house shortly after midnight Monday, according to Tijuana firefighters. A mudslide apparently caused the collapse.

The couple’s four children escaped injury. Mudslides are a recurring problem during rainstorms in the canyons of the border-area neighborhood, where makeshift houses are built precariously on hillsides.

The forecast for Los Angeles calls for partly cloudy skies this morning with a good chance of rain late tonight and throughout much of Thursday.

“The rain amounts will be lighter this time, although there might be as much as an inch in some areas,� said Mark Bogner, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc.

The earlier storm dropped 2.81 inches of rain at the Los Angeles Civic Center on Monday and Tuesday, raising the season’s total there to 16.32 inches, almost five inches above the normal total for the date. The 1.95 inches that fell Monday at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field was the highest total recorded there for the date.

The heaviest rain--along with hail, lightning and thunder--was reported in foothill communities, but there was little of the flooding that plagued Southern California during February’s heavy downpours.

Gates that had been closed Monday to keep motorists out of the flood-prone Sepulveda Basin--where more than 40 motorists were stranded last month--were reopened at dawn Tuesday as the main force of the storm pushed eastward.

A funnel cloud was reported in the Chino area Tuesday afternoon, but it never touched the ground and there were no reports of damage.

Ulysses Jarrett, 42, of Compton was killed and a man riding with him was injured when Jarrett’s car skidded on wet pavement early Tuesday and crashed into a fence in Compton, but police did not blame the accident entirely on the weather.

Rain from the new storm should start falling in Los Angeles shortly after sunset tonight, with forecasters calling for a 70% chance of rain throughout the Los Angeles area Thursday. Snow is expected above 6,000 feet in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains.

Southland Rain Watch

Rainfall figures for the 24-hour period ending at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Season totals and norms are based on precipitation from July 1 to date.

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm L.A. BASIN Avalon/Catalina .70 1.00 9.59 9.27 Culver City 1.14 1.85 11.01 10.65 Long Beach .34 .93 10.37 9.67 L.A. Civic Center 1.89 2.81 16.32 11.34 L.A. Int’l Airport 1.02 1.72 10.53 9.22 Montebello .61 .61 7.54 11.11 Santa Monica 1.01 1.96 11.85 10.73 Torrance 1.03 1.84 13.80 10.29 UCLA .92 1.96 16.79 13.41 VALLEYS/CANYONS Beaumont .05 .50 13.22 12.42 Monrovia .94 1.75 17.24 NA Northridge .98 1.88 15.98 NA Pasadena 2.25 3.00 11.80 14.50 Riverside .10 .56 6.72 7.14 San Bernardino .16 .60 8.69 11.53 San Gabriel 1.14 1.78 16.38 13.36 Santa Clarita NA 1.30 20.40 13.72 Woodland Hills 2.13 3.42 28.39 NA ORANGE COUNTY Newport Beach .62 1.49 10.30 8.12 San Juan Cap. 1.89 2.43 12.60 NA Santa Ana .54 1.06 10.64 9.56 SAN DIEGO COUNTY Oceanside .30 1.08 9.31 7.55 San Diego .58 2.09 10.31 6.79 SOUTHLAND MOUNTAINS Big Bear Lake .11 .24 13.13 17.44 Mt. Wilson 2.33 3.51 38.76 25.29 DESERTS Palm Springs NA .70 6.05 4.47 Lancaster .00 .73 NA 5.89 SANTA BARBARA/VENTURA Santa Barbara .02 .27 15.40 13.47 Ventura .28 1.12 17.08 11.07

NA indicates figures not available. In other cases, some totals may be incomplete because of missing station reports.

* Amount of rainfall since the last zero-precipitation day.

SOURCE: National Weather Service and WeatherData Inc.