After the dangerous storms had dumped rain from the coast
to the valleys and cover,
the mountains and snow are not over.
Now, Easter Sunday could be washed out by a soaking
stream of showers and thunderstorms.
Take a look at what's powering these storms.
It's large and menacing, and it has forced the cancellation
of many outdoor events.
That's right. All that heavy rain even impacted tonight's baseball
game between the Dodgers and the Cardinals at Dodger Stadium.
Forcing players to take cover and forcing the UPS to
stop the game.
It's a rare sight at the stadium.
Yeah, we've got live team coverage.
Rachel Menitov is in Westwood Forest.
We want to begin with Kai,
though. He's here in the studio.
He's got the current conditions.
Kai. Yeah, thanks so much.
Kareem. Rick. Good evening, everybody.
Saturday night here in Southern California,
the streets are slick. LAXA live.
Look right now, showers coming down through the Santa Monica
Bay.
And now things are getting dangerous as we take a
look at this area of low pressure.
Cold air is beginning to make its way into Southern
California,
and as that cold air mixes up with the moisture,
we're seeing a numerous amounts of thunderstorms and lightning strikes,
especially along the coastal sections where we've seen reports of
water spouts throughout the afternoon.
Just off the Santa Barbara,
Ventura County coastline, we're still seeing a great deal of
energy.
You can see this cell,
this is a strong one.
Heavy, heavy rain, some strong gusty winds,
possibly some hail. Maybe there are some water spouts embedded
within this particular cell as it makes its way towards
the Ventura County coastline.
Up we go into the Ojai Valley.
They're seeing some rainfall, moderate right now,
but getting heavy in certain sections,
especially along the 33. We make our way up towards
the Grapevine tonight and they're seeing some snow showers there.
Then we'll head up along the Simi Valley area.
This cell's coming through the Susanna Susanna Pass up into
the Santa Clarita Valley.
We're looking at some snow showers just to the east
of that particular area.
And look at the Palace Verdes area near Lomita.
That's a cell that's dropping some heavy rainfall right now,
making its way up to Compton.
Then we're taking a look at the southern sections of
Orange County coastline through San Clemente.
So the ground is becoming more and more saturated as
the hours move on.
And of course, once again,
as we just mentioned, Easter Sunday,
more saturation could take place.
And that's been giving some problems to many folks around
Southern California.
One of those areas, Westwood.
And that's where our Ktla's Rachel Menitov is live as
we've seen a big tree coming down in that particular
neighborhood.
Rachel,
that's exactly right. And as you mentioned,
we have been tracking this storm from the hills now
to the ground level.
And it's been a mixture of heavy rain,
cold temperatures, slippery roads and wind,
which is one of the reasons for this downed tree
here in Westwood.
It actually toppled over into an apartment complex where for
a brief moment people were trapped inside.
A late season storm means downpours from downtown LA
to St. flooding in Sun Valley.
Excessive runoff can lead to flooding near creeks,
streams, low lying and flood prone areas.
It's no surprise the rain made for slippery roads.
This is from the 10 freeway where a semi truck
hydroplaned before it jackknifed near Baldwin Park early in the
morning.
I mean, it rains occasionally back in the day,
but it's never rained like it has this year.
Sam Maydew lives in Beverly Crest,
where erosion has caused parts of Mulholland Drive to cave
in.
A recent slide sent crews scrambling to contain the saturated,
weakened slope. Maydew snapped these pictures of his
neighbor's hillside home because of its precarious positioning at the
edge of the hill,
he fears for their futures.
As you drive down mall and you look up,
you can see how much closer the house is now
because a lot of the hill has has
melted from the rain, you know,
and
I don't know how that's going to change,
you know how you fix that.
These people building over here are on just on dirt.
So that's that's a concern.
Maybe slight bedrock but mainly dirt and they
fear losing their home to a mudslide of course of
course fear of the whole house sliding down
lives could be taken. I mean,
it's it's bad.
Another consequence of Saturday's storm,
a massive tree came crashing through Jeremy
Pepper's Westwood apartment window. As you can tell from the
circumference of the tree,
it was a big tree and it was literally up
to my door.
It was a startling reminder of the whipping winds,
but luckily nothing more dangerous.
So I sent a couple of messages to people that
I was supposed to see tonight that I probably would
not be getting out of my apartment
and canceled the appointment for tomorrow morning because I thought
I'd be stuck in there.
And the timing of this storm has put a damper
on a lot of Easter weekend festivities.
Celebrations in Pasadena, Huntington Beach and also Santa Anita were
either canceled or rescheduled because of the possibility of a
major downpour.
That's the latest in Westwood tonight.
I'm Rachel Manitof. I'll send it back inside to both
of you.
All right, Rachel, thank you so much.
We mentioned the snow, the storm blanketing Big Bear with
nearly a foot of it,
and that's good for the people that are hitting the
slopes,
but bad for anybody trying to drive up their unprepared
Dozens of cars were caught off guard making their way
up to the mountains.
Now officials are warning the public to bring those change
and prepare for whiteout conditions on the road to Big
Bear Mountain.
And as the temperatures drop overnight,
several more inches of snow expected up there in the
higher elevations.
KTL A's John Fenolio joins us along the road to
Big Bear near Crestline.
That's where several drivers had to turn back due to
the slick roads and thick snow.
Hey, good evening, everybody. It's cold,
it's snowy and it's still coming down out here.
Take a look up the mountain and you can see
visibility is very low.
This is one of the last pull outs to put
on tire chains before the road becomes packed with snow.
And as you'll see, it made getting to Big Bear
a real nightmare for dozens of drivers.
Slick icy roads,
wide out conditions,
severe spinouts, and bottleneck traffic,
all part of what you can expect in the snowy
San Bernardino Mountains this weekend.
Rick Rios and partner Darlene
Espinosa's weekend getaway was dashed after the trek up Hwy.
18 to Big Bear was just too treacherous.
It was a pretty pretty bad it was like
really hard to get through.
We got to the where a bridge is and we
kind of started slipping and sliding there.
So at one point we almost hit the railing so
we had to stop.
Luckily A Samaritan helped us
get some tracks and need the car and then we
were able to back up.
You're in an off road,
4 wheel drive vehicle here.
Yes, yes, yes. A lot of us turned,
turned away, some jeeps, some Broncos.
Our car started sliding, no joke,
to the point that we were like within a foot
of the railing and we both probably saw our live
flash before our lives thinking that we were going to
die.
For those on their way up the mountain,
tire chains are required.
Bernard Hanna is the owner of Four Bros Liquor.
He's selling chains and showing customers how to put them
on.
How many people have come here to get chains today?
Over maybe 20 today so far.
And so you sell the chains and then do you
charge to put them on?
No, I just try to show them how.
The National Weather Service says the storm is bringing several
inches of snow over the weekend,
as much as four feet above
8500 feet. Hwy. 18, between Running Springs and Big Bear
Dam,
became a massive snow trap early Saturday for dozens of
drivers with numerous cars buried in Blizzard like conditions.
Still, caravans of vehicles continue the slow slog up the
mountain,
but once you're up here,
it truly is a winter Wonderland.
As for Rick and Darlene,
they're opting for gentler climbs in the desert,
so we're going to have a great time in Joshua
Tree.
So we just booked a different Airbnb in Joshua Tree,
which we love, and it's amazing.
So one of the first places we went to together
as a couple,
so it all works out
and we're alive and we didn't fall off of freaking
mountains,
All right, it bears repeating,
you have to have change if you're headed up Hwy.
18 towards Big Bear. The roads are just too treacherous.
The National Weather Service says the bulk of all the
snowfall will occur overnight,
then taper off Sunday evening,
reporting along Hwy. 18 somewhere in the San Bernardino Mountains.
I'm John Finolio, KTLA 5 News
from the mountains to the Grapevine.
That area got a lot of snow over the last
24 hours,
and more snow is on the way.
The five freeway remains open,
but authorities are warning drivers to stay safe behind the
wheel.
Driving conditions are dangerous all along that stretch of Interstate
5 through Frazier Park.
Or at least one car lost control and drove into
a ditch.
Flood watches and snow warnings are in effect through the
Easter holiday as the storm continues.
And we spoke with one driver who isn't letting a
little snow slow him down.
It's very wet. All the trees are beautiful.
I got some nice pictures on my cell phone
and I have to head to LA where there's no
snow,
so I had to clear the truck off a little
bit.
Well, I love it up here.
It's the mountains, you know.
It's my own little Idaho,
and officials urge you to plan ahead if you're traveling
through the Grapevine and be sure to give yourself enough
time to drive safely.
And be sure to stay with KTLA as we continue
to drop track this weekend's storm.
You can scan the QR code on your screen for
the latest updates on the upcoming storm and the weather
in your neighborhood,
or head to
ktla.com/weather.