A Rare Ray of Sunshine Lets State See Task Ahead

The rain went away Sunday. The muck remained.

And more rain is on the way, probably today, forecasters said.

In Los Angeles County, the Department of Health shut down 3.1 miles of beach between Venice Boulevard and Imperial Highway after discovering late Saturday that 240,000 gallons of sewage had spilled into the ocean.

In Ventura County, authorities struggled to mop up 21,000 gallons of crude oil that spilled into a remote ravine from a pipeline severed by mudslides in Saturday’s storm. About 8,400 gallons of oil washed into the ocean, officials said.

Elsewhere around the state, workers shored up levees that were disintegrating into mud.

“We don’t have anything bowling us over for now . . . [but] things can take a turn for the worse at any time,” said Jeff Cohen, spokesman for the state flood center in Sacramento.

“We can’t take a break from monitoring and from patrolling levees.”

That turn for the worse is expected tonight when another storm will probably barrel into California, said Kevin Stenson, a forecaster at WeatherData Inc. in Wichita, Kan., which provides weather information to The Times.

The storm is expected to linger through Tuesday, with occasional thunderstorms, Stenson said. Some forecasters predict up to 4 1/2 inches in parts of Southern California.

A heavy surf advisory from San Luis Obispo County to the Mexican border will remain in effect until Tuesday. Waves up to 10 feet are forecast for Ventura County, with maximum sets at 12 feet on west-facing beaches, the National Weather Service said.

Another storm is expected to hit Thursday.

Except for scattered showers near San Diego and in parts of Northern California, Sunday turned out bright and sunny, allowing workers to gauge the damage from Saturday’s storm.

In Venice, a sewer at Kansas and 42nd streets overflowed, funneling sewage into a catch basin and out into Ballona Creek, said Richard Kebajian, chief of the county’s recreational health program. That overflow forced the health department to close the beach--just one day after reopening it after mopping up a sewage spill from last week’s storms.

“It’s just back and forth,” Kebajian said.

In Culver City, firefighters warily eyed a drenched hillside that had disintegrated Saturday into a mudslide, swamping one home and threatening another.

City workers will examine the hill before the expected storm today to see if there is any way to staunch the flow, Culver City Fire Capt. Tim Wilson said.

In Calabasas, California Conservation Corps workers fashioned sandbag walls to reinforce the banks of nearly overflowing McCoy Creek.

About 40 miles away in Ventura County, work crews found that a mudslide had blocked a drainage channel in a remote section of Hall Canyon. County emergency officials said they are keeping an eye on water backing up behind the slide.

Elsewhere, the 14-year-old snowboarder rescued after six days in the snow-driven wilderness was transferred to Loma Linda Medical Center from a Glendora hospital. A spokeswoman said Jeff Thornton remained in serious but stable condition.

In the Sierra Nevada, the U.S. Forest Service issued a back-country avalanche warning through today. Rangers said strong winds were blowing over crests burdened with too much snow--with as much as another foot expected by late today.

In Orange County, rescue workers searched futilely for Chris Fankhouser, a 27-year-old Utah man who disappeared Saturday afternoon while swimming in roiling waters near San Clemente.

And in Tijuana, about 100 people were evacuated Sunday morning from hillside homes and shanties. Jorge Gonzalez of Tijuana Civil Defense said an additional 200 people had been moved from their homes before the weekend in anticipation of the storm.

Last week, a pounding storm sent floods crashing down the hills of Tijuana and nearby Rosarito, killing 13 people.

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Correspondent Cathy Murillo and Times wire services contributed to this story.