Travelers Spin Their Wheels--or Just Sit Still

The wayward jet stream that pushed the latest in a relentless series ofPacific storms ashore Tuesday was the only mode of movement that was unaffected on a day that dawned with a deluge--and then got damper.

Buses, trains or automobiles--it didn’t matter which you chose, as commuters and travelers were delayed no matter how or where they went. Southern Californians--America’s most mobile people--found themselves floundering through a day on which mobility all but ceased.

Flooding, mudslides and sinkholes caused by the torrential rains led to a nightmare commute Tuesday afternoon on Los Angeles freeways.

“It’s hideous,” CHP Officer Michelle Reddick said. “The traffic is bumper-to-bumper due to the wet conditions and the possibility of detours.”

Miraculously, though, there were few serious accidents reported at the peak of the deluge--5 a.m. to noon--when the California Highway Patrol logged five times the usual number of accident calls.

The CHP said that by 2:30 p.m., it had dealt with 485 disabled vehicles on Greater Los Angeles area freeways. By the end of the day, more than 900 traffic accidents had been reported.

During the late-afternoon rush hour on the northbound San Diego Freeway, which earlier had one lane out of action near Getty Center Drive because of a mudslide, brake lights illuminated the gray haze of rain from the Sepulveda Pass all the way down to the Century Freeway more than 20 miles away.

During the day, the state Department of Transportation shut down two lanes of the Golden State Freeway by Lankershim Boulevard. Portions of the Long Beach, Harbor, Ventura and Hollywood freeways were also closed, as were Pacific Coast Highway and Sierra Highway, a major thoroughfare in Santa Clarita.

The going seemed equally tough for those forced to traverse surface streets.

From Santa Barbara to Orange County, torrential rains--interspersed with intervals of steady downpour--transformed many intersections into small ponds, where runoff simply could not get to storm drains fast enough and swirled in muddy eddies along the streets.

Many canyon routes normally used by commuters were closed, and drenched earth that couldn’t cling to the hillsides any longer tumbled onto freeways in the Sepulveda and Newhall passes, shutting down some lanes and backing traffic up for miles. Commuters on the Westside were confounded by the closure not only of Pacific Coast Highway, but also by blockages on several alternative routes through the Santa Monica Mountains and Hollywood Hills.

A 150- foot- wide landslide and two- foot- deep waters closed Beverly Glen Boulevard north of Mulholland Drive on Tuesday afternoon, cutting off a link between Beverly Hills and Sherman Oaks.

“We can’t let anybody through because we don’t know when the rest of it will let go,” said Officer Vic Kanchananangko, who was at a roadblock near the slide.

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Public transit commuters confronted a mixed picture. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority had to reroute seven of its bus lines because of flooded intersections, including six in the San Fernando Valley.

Amtrak riders from Santa Barbara were out of luck after the rail service canceled trains to Los Angeles because 90 miles of track were underwater. And with the Ventura Freeway shut down in parts of Ventura County, Amtrak could not even offer the alternative bus shuttle it normally does when train service is canceled.

“Everything is pretty much at a standstill, unfortunately,” Amtrak spokeswoman Dawn Soper said.

The Metrolink commuter rail service benefited, as officials say it usually does in bad weather, when commuters abandoned their cars. The number of riders rose by 36% on the agency’s Ventura County line and by 10% on the Santa Clarita route.

But morning passengers on the Ventura and Santa Clarita lines were caught along with everyone else after the storm forced Metrolink to slow its trains, delaying their arrival in Downtown Los Angeles by 15 to 25 minutes.

By the evening rush hour, the Ventura line had been closed at the Simi station, with passengers being bused west because the nearby Arroyo Simi bridge seemed unstable, a spokesman said.

Commuters hoping to ride the Ventura County line this morning will have to get to the Simi station to board southbound trains. Stations in Oxnard, Camarillo and Moorpark will be closed.

Riders on the Santa Clarita line can expect delays of up to 40 minutes today because of mud in the 80-year-old Saugus tunnel.

No delays were expected on Metrolink’s Orange County and San Bernardino lines.

Many city streets and intersections swirled with storm waters. As George Groves, an engineer with the Los Angeles Public Works Department, explained: “The streets follow the existing grade, and the drainage follows the streets.” In fact, he noted, the streets are part of the region’s drainage system, collecting water and allowing it to run down to the storm drains.

The fact that there was a sort of plan at work, however, was little comfort to commuters such as Perrie Weiner, who said the journey from his Laurel Canyon home to his Downtown law office was a disaster.

Weiner started by taking a street called Laurel Pass, “which was pretty much underwater.” But Weiner said he thought that his Porsche could handle the six inches to a foot of water he saw in the street. He was wrong.

“I pretty much lost my brakes,” he said. “I had to grab the parking brake. Between the curb and my parking brake, I got the car to stop.” When he tried to back up, “the water was coming down the street so hard I started hydroplaning,” he said. “I pretty much pulled over to the side of the street, stopped it and left it.”

He made his way back home and called a cab--which came immediately.

“It was pretty scary, because I have never not had control over the car before,” said Weiner, who said he would have to go back and retrieve his car. “I was just all over the place.” He added ruefully: “I think it’s time to buy a truck.”

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Los Angeles’ 4.4-mile subway between MacArthur Park and Union Station had more than its share of commuters Tuesday afternoon, as many bus passengers forsook surface transit to try to stay out of the rain.

“It’s packed--almost like a New York City subway,” one rider said.

But even underground, some found it impossible to stay dry. Beneath Union Station, water was pouring down on the Metro Rail track and on a stairway.

“It’s not supposed to be that way, but that’s the way it is,” said a uniformed subway worker who did not give his name.

Union Station is where many commuters make bus or rail connections. One of them, Maida Klein, a secretary for a Downtown firm, had a premonition that trouble was in store as she prepared to catch a Metrolink train to the Santa Clarita Valley. “I have no idea what time I’m going to get home,” she said.

With closure of both California 126 east of Santa Paula and two-lane California 23 north of Moorpark, the city of Fillmore became a virtual island Tuesday.

All roads leading in and out of the city were closed to traffic by 9 a.m.

Hundreds of stranded truckers and travelers sought refuge in the fast-food restaurants that dot California 126 as it cuts through the city.

Roger Guest, a trucker from Newbury Park, was taking the highway to Bakersfield with a load of building supplies when the CHP turned him back just east of Fillmore early Tuesday.

“It’s a mess,” Guest said of the flooded streets and highways. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”