Several roads were flooded throughout the Southland and thousands of people were without power Saturday as a historic winter storm lashed the area with heavy rain, snow and high winds.
As of early Saturday, the city received 2.26 inches of rain at its measuring station at Long Beach Airport.
Long Beach State moved today’s men’s basketball game against Cal State Northridge from the Walter Pyramid to the Gold Mine auxiliary gym in the interest of player safety due to the possibility of water leaks from rain affecting the playing surface, the university announced.
Westbound Seventh Street was also closed near Recreation Park after a large tree toppled over.
Westbound Seventh Street at Recreation Park is down to one lane after a large tree fell earlier today. pic.twitter.com/1qR9BYv9Lk
— Fernando Haro (@FernandoAHaro) February 25, 2023
Some relief was expected Saturday with gradually lighter rainfall as the day progresses, according to the National Weather Service, which called the storm one of then strongest ever to hit Southwest California.
It poured all day and all night Friday and continued raining throughout the morning Saturday in most parts of the Southland, with 5-8 inches of rain across the valleys and almost 12 inches in some lower mountain locations.
The downpour created extremely dangerous driving conditions. Three motorhomes were swept into the Santa Clara River on Saturday morning when an embankment collapsed at the Valencia Travel Village RV Park in Valencia. They were located downstream but the embankment was continuing to erode, KCAL9 reported. No injuries were reported.
Several freeway and road closures were ongoing Saturday, including:
- State Route 14 (the Antelope Valley Freeway) was closed between Sand Canyon Road and Sierra Highway;
- The 5 Freeway was closed from Los Feliz Boulevard to Glendale Boulevard due to flooding;
- The northbound 5 Freeway was closed from Fletcher Boulevard to Glendale Boulevard due to flooding;
- Farther north, all traffic was being diverted to the carpool lane on the northbound 5 Freeway between Penrose Street and Sheldon Street north ofBurbank due to the three right lanes being flooded;
- Northbound I-5 (the Grapevine) was closed between Lake Hughes Road and Templin Highway;
- State Route 39 in the Angeles National Forest was closed in both directions from East Fork Road to State Route 2;
- State Route 2 in the Angeles National Forest was closed in both directions from East Fork Road to Islip Saddle;
- State Route 138 was closed in both directions from 2.2 miles north of I-210 to I-5 to 190th Street West.
A blizzard warning—the first issued in the area since 1989—remained in place until 4 p.m. Saturday in the Los Angeles mountains. Snow continued to fall at unusually low levels Saturday, as low as 1,000 feet in some areas.