Emergency declared in storm-hit Californian counties

Press, 21 February 1980, Page 6

Emergency declared in storm-hit Californian counties

NZPA-Reuter Los Angeles Governor Jerry Brown of California has declared a state of emergency in four California counties after a week-long series of storms caused extensive flooding, at least 24 deaths and more than BUSIOO million in property losses. •• According to state officials many homes have been destroyed, mostly by mud slides, and hundreds more have been severely damaged by storm. Governor Brown has also ordered 18,000 California National Guardsmen to be on stand-by alert in case they are needed to deal with the' emergency. .

His emergency declaration, which qualifies property owners for low-interest Federal loan's, applies to Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and Riverside . counties, which have-been the worst hit by a rapid-fire.,'succes-sion of Pacific storms that have also drenched some northern parts of the state, as well as central Arizona and Mexican border areas.

“It’s a catastrophe for the city,” Marvin Braude, a Los Angeles City councilman

said yesterday morning after being briefed on flood ageOver the last week, southern California has been battered by five big storms that have dropped more than 2 / cm of rain. Weather forecasters said on Tuesday that another storm with the potential to drop up to 7.6 cm more of rain was due to arrive after midnight on Tuesday and that it would be followed by another storm today. With storm drainage tunnels and ditches overflowing, water, silt and debris have turned many streets into rivers. In many neighbourhoods, hillsides, saturated by the storms have given way, undermining foundations on homes, and in some cases cascading into houses and crushing them. The interiors of hundreds of homes have been flooded by up to Im or more of muddy ooze. '

Damage was reported to be particularly severe in the hillside and canyon regions of Los Angeles, many of which were denuded of vegetation by brush fires over the last .two years and

therefore have little watershed to trap rainwater. Areas nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains between the Pacific Coast and the San Fernando Valley, such as Laurel Canyon and Mandeville Canyon, have had heavy damage. The rustic canyon areas are especially popular with some show business and professional people ■ who have emigrated to the foothill and canyon regions because they provide a refuge from the .sprawl and congestion for which Los Angeles is noted-

The experience of Harriet Jafari, who. lives iii-, .Laurel Canyon, - typifies that of many residents of the area.

She said ; she Was in her home with her two children when, without warning, . a hill beside her home plummeted down*:' and crushed most of her house.

“I heard nothing,” she said tearfully. “Then all of a sudden the walls came in on me.” Mrs Jafari said ■ she screamed for her children but was unable to- rush to them because she was trapped in her bedroom by the ooze.

Her daughters, aged four and two, ran from the house. Neighbours, using an axe, broke into the home and rescued Mrs Jafari, who said that she had decided she would not move back to the foothill. As ‘the rain continued, tourists were urged to avoid the desert Palm Springs area, where 1000 people were advised to leave their homes. Rail travel was interrupted between Los Angeles and San . Diego because a bridge had been weakened by the storms. At least 24 people have died because of the weather, including 18 in California, three in Arizona and three American tourists in Tijuana, Mexico, authorities said.

In Gache County, northern Utah, the flood-control director, Mr Ned Gines, said flood damage from Tuesday’s rain would probably total about SUS2 million. Governor Bruce Babbitt of Arizona, has asked President Carter to . declare a large part of central Arizona a disaster area because of j flooding on Friday and Sat-i iirday. ; ' ;