Mudslide shuts down Pacific Coast Highway section as rain expected in L.A. through Sunday
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- Pacific Coast Highway is closed between Carbon Beach Terrace in Malibu to Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades.
- Light rain is expected to linger in L.A. through Sunday morning.
A modest storm brought light showers across the Los Angeles area early Saturday — triggering a mudslide that closed a section of Pacific Coast Highway — with some rain expected through Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
Saturday’s rain should dissipate around noon, and “spotty and sparse” showers will continue throughout the day, said National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Lewis.
The mild soaking was still enough to create a problem on a section of the coast affected by the Palisades fire: The rain sent mud flowing down the hills above Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, leading to the closure of the highway from Carbon Beach Terrace to Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades, the California Department of Transportation said Saturday night.
The closed section of PCH is expected to reopen at 6 a.m. Sunday to residents with burn scar passes, contractors, emergency responders and designated Metro and school buses, according to Caltrans. Crews are making good progress, but they still have to clear the mud at Peña Road in Malibu, Caltrans said.
Almost 8,800 property owners have asked the Army Corps of Engineers to direct the cleanup of burned homes. With more than 100 parcels a day being cleared, the job is almost halfway done, with June a likely date for completion, officials say.
With the rain, L.A. will experience unseasonably cold weather: Temperatures will drop to the high 50s on Saturday. And in the Antelope Valley, they will descend into the low 50s.
“Today, the max temperatures are fairly cold — especially for this time of year,” Lewis said.
On Sunday, the rain will give way to partly cloudy skies, with temperatures in L.A. warming up to the low 60s.
In all, the storm could produce about a quarter-inch of rain in low-lying areas, and as much as a half-inch in the foothills, Lewis said.
A cool, wet weather pattern will probably bring some April showers to Southern California. Areas of Los Angeles could see up to a half-inch of rain Saturday.
But rainfall totals trail the typical amount received in L.A. by a wide margin. Excluding Saturday’s drizzles, downtown L.A. had seen 7.88 inches of rain since Oct. 1. On average, though, the area receives 13.63 inches over the same time period, Lewis said.
And the rain over that roughly seven-month stretch is far below the amount received during the same stretch a year ago, when L.A. had been inundated with 22.02 inches, he said.
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