California recovers as major storm heads east

CAMARILLO, Calif. – Californians cleaned up Saturday from a major storm that soaked the drought-stricken state before moving east to drop rain on the Southwest.

Perhaps the biggest job was in Camarillo, about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles, where a Friday mudslide besieged houses, making 13 uninhabitable. The debris flowed down a hillside burned by wildfire last year.

“It’s quite an earth-moving operation,” said Elton Gallegly, whose wife’s family owns one of the damaged homes and who stopped by Saturday to check on progress.

Gallegly, a former congressman, said work crews using a huge backhoe and several other vehicles told him they hoped to clear the road in front of the houses by dark. Though he was impressed by the “incredible progress,” he thought that timeline was ambitious – and it still wouldn’t mean the removal of tons of muck surrounding the homes.

Cleanup also was underway in South Los Angeles, where a small – and rare – tornado briefly touched down, ripping parts off several roofs and knocking down trees.

The cleanup came as more rain was forecast for coming days, though the National Weather Service said that precipitation shouldn’t cause the same amount of damage as the recent storm. All of which would be good news in a state where three years of drought means every inch of rain helps.

Weather experts say many more storms are needed to pull the state out of its current water crisis.

On Saturday, utility crews restored power to nearly everyone who lost it, though roads including a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway in Ventura County remained closed. In mountains east of Los Angeles, ski resorts welcomed up to a foot of fresh snow.