A major storm system caused havoc in the Southland.

By Mary O’KEEFE

The recent California storms brought a lot of rainfall, flooding and tragedy with at least 17 deaths reported across the state.

In Southern California this most recent storm, which hit hardest Monday through Tuesday, brought mud onto a lot of roadways resulting in the shutdown of the Golden State (5) Freeway near Lankershim Boulevard. Flooding was reported on roadways late afternoon on Monday, which slowed traffic.

“On [Tuesday], the 5 north flooded and we had a hard closure for a couple of hours,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Jonathan Boyd.

And there were mudslides along Angeles Crest Highway that, as of Wednesday, was open up to mile marker 64, Boyd said.

The two-day rainfall total through 3 p.m. Tuesday was 5.38 inches in La Cañada Flintridge. For the same period, Pasadena saw 5.41 inches, the Eagle Rock Reservoir recorded 5.9 inches and one of the largest total rainfall amounts was 18.31 inches recorded at Nordhoff Ridge Road in Ventura County, according to David Sweet, NOAA.

There was a lot of rain and, although it didn’t wipe out the nearly two decades of drought California has experienced, it did help replenish reservoirs with most filling to 75% of normal, he added.

“The reservoir near Cachuma Lake in Santa Barbara County went from 30% to 80%,” Sweet said.

Caltrans was prepared for the downpour, and depending on how much rain was expected, had workers working 24 hours – two shifts of 12 hours each.

“These crews are [ready] to respond to emergencies,” said Eric Menjivar, spokesman for Caltrans.

This storm brought a lot of flooding across LA County that crews responded to including a lot of collisions on the roadways.

“We had multiple slides on Angeles Crest Highway to Angeles Forest Highway,” he said.

Because the highway in ANF is only two lanes in most areas, one rockfall can close the entire road.

“The rain was just not stopping and that [created] a problem,” he said. “Lankershim on the northbound 5 [freeway] got flooded a few times Monday and Tuesday and we had all lanes shut down.”

And then Caltrans had to shut down a couple of southbound lanes in the same area due to the amount of rain. Caltrans had its pumps out to control the flooding but they were not working fast enough.

The rain has stopped but Caltrans is preparing for the next storms, even though they are expected to be weaker systems.

As always, there are safety precautions that drivers need to take. The first is not to be on the roadways at all if they do not need to be; however, if it is inescapable the main thing for drivers to remember is to slow down.

“Oftentimes people will [think] because the speed limit is 65 [miles per hour] they can continue to drive 65 in inclement weather,” Boyd said. “But the speed limit isn’t the safe limit. The public may not [realize] that it only takes less than an inch of water to lose traction and hydroplane.”

Boyd said CHP had responded to numerous spin-outs in which vehicles slammed into medians or guardrails.

“And it never fails: in inclement weather we get back-to-back calls for overturned vehicles,” he said. “It doesn’t seem that drivers’ habits change.”

Boyd urged drivers to slow down, especially during inclement weather, and to realize hydroplaning can happen with only a little rain. Also even though the rain has stopped it does not mean the roads are dry; they are still slick in areas.

“We recommend that motorists, before a rain event, try to get their errands done before [the storm] and if you have to go out to drive in the rain for work or [appointments] plan ahead and give yourself extra time,” Menjivar said. “Slow down to protect our workers who are responding to incidents of flooding and other types of conditions on the roadway.”

Equally important is that when windshield wipers are on, headlights must be on. This law, as stated in California Vehicle Code 24400, took effect in January 2008. “Headlights” means “headlights” not just the “running lights” newer cars have – a good reason for this is that with headlights on, your taillights are on, too, improving visibility for those drives behind you.

To get up-to-date information on road closures follow Caltrans District 7 @caltransdist7 on Twitter or go to Caltrans quick map at quickmap.dot.ca.gov. Caltrans QuickMap can be downloaded from the app store.