Aftermath of California mudslides, A soaking storm swept into Southern California, triggering several mudslides, flooding streets and cutting power to tens of thousands Friday after lashing the rest of the state with much-needed rain.
The deluge from the storm's intense, early-morning arrival caused part of a hillside about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles to give way.
Debris brushed aside concrete barriers crews had set up on the slope and surrounded about a dozen homes with silt, sticks and rocks as large as a couch.
In several backyards, the muck was piled up to the roofline. The force was so great that two large earthmovers used to set up barriers were swept down to the street, with one nearly buried.
Los Angeles Fire Department personnel rescued two people from the storm-swollen Los Angeles River. Orange County fire officials pulled a body from a concrete flood channel, though the cause of death wasn't clear.
Though the fast-moving storm was projected to clear out east and reach Nevada and Arizona later in the day, the risk remained that sodden topsoil no longer held in place by roots could give way.
