Soggy Riverside County Will Slowly Start To Dry
More rain was expected in soggy Riverside County today, but pleasant weather is right around the corner, according to forecasters.
Rain continued to fall over saturated western portions of Riverside County yesterday, while residents farther east had only a half-dozen or so road closings to contend with, along with moderate downpours.
In Indio, shallow water filled the usually dry wash as clouds veiled distant mountains. Sunlight breaking through the clouds toward the east, though, gave a portent of the sunny weather that lies ahead by tomorrow.
As is usually the case in normally parched Southern California, the heavy rain encourages boulders, logs, mud and vegetation to flow on sloped hillsides, and higher volumes of water collect in low-lying areas, such as washes.
But it was a tale of two counties much of this week, with more trouble on the west side than the eastside.
Sheriff’s search-and-rescue crews got to the rain-swept site where a twin-engine, 10-seat plane crashed Monday afternoon near Terri Peaks, killing pilot Christopher Julius Petrikas, 65. It will be months before investigators know if he tried to dip below clouds to find visibility and flew the Aero Commander into a hillside.
Meanwhile, there was plenty of drama afoot late Monday as teams of swiftwater-trained firefighters rescued nine people in three separate events in Rubidoux and Mira Loma and rain pounded the northwest side of the county. One of those brought to safety was a tow truck driver, who perched atop his vehicle in a flood-swollen wash near Beach Street and 58th Street in Mira Loma, close to the Pyrite Channel, authorities said.
The rain has played havoc with construction work on a portion of Interstate 10, where contractors are planning to reconfigure a bridge at Indian Canyon Drive.
The work is supposed to get under way by 9 this evening and to continue until 5 a.m. tomorrow, with westbound motorists exiting Interstate 10 at the Indian Canyon off-ramp, and then taking the on-ramp back to the freeway. If rain persists, however, the work on the westbound and eastbound sides of the freeway will be pushed back until the new year.
Most of the higher water, of course, was reported in the Whitewater River wash, which meanders through several communities.
Authorities also said water has a tendency to pool in the No. 3 lane of eastbound and westbound Ramon Road, between Landau Boulevard and Date Palm Drive in Cathedral City.
The Auto Club of Southern California said it dispatched more than 25,000 calls on Monday, a number that surpassed its previous record for one 24-hour period of about 22,000, which was set during an Oct. 9, 2008, heat wave.
Cal Fire reported yesterday that Riverside County crews responded to 495 service calls during a 24-hour period from 8 a.m. Monday to 8 a.m. Tuesday, including 63 traffic collisions, 24 residential flooding calls and eight water rescues, with 13 people rescued.
