A record-breaking amount of rain battered Southern California, flooding roadways and causing a series of accidents, including a crash that killed two people.
A record-breaking amount of rain battered Southern California, flooding roadways and causing a series of accidents, including a crash that killed two people.
The downpour also triggered a daring helicopter rescue of two boys from a rain-swollen flood-control channel.
The storm measured 1.2 inches in downtown Los Angeles by Monday evening, breaking the record of .9 inches for the date set in 1903. In Pasadena, 1.68 inches fell, four times the record set in 1990.
Similar records were broken throughout the area, said Gary Ryan, a technician with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Some areas saw more than two inches of rain.
The rain, which began falling Monday, caught many people by surprise and caused hundreds of highway collisions.
In Santa Clarita, two people died and several others were injured in a five-vehicle pileup that closed the southbound Golden State Freeway for about an hour.
Off the highways, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department rescue helicopter pulled two adolescent boys out of Big Dalton Wash, a flood control channel in Glendora where rain-swollen waters were clocked at 30 miles per hour.
The rescue occurred as darkness fell, and the pair were taken to a hospital for evaluation. They were not seriously hurt.
Forecasters said more showers were possible early Tuesday. Monday's showers were accompanied by unseasonably cool temperatures. The high in downtown Los Angeles was 58 degrees, while the norm for this time of year is 73.
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