California Storms Turn Deadly

Mudslides trapped people in their homes Monday and forced others to flee as Southern California was soaked by yet another of the powerful storms that have pounded the region this winter. At least three deaths were blamed on the weather and part of the area's commuter rail service was halted.

According to the Los Angeles Times, more than 100 county firefighters worked to free people from a mudslide in Hacienda Heights. Rescuers pulled three people from about 10 feet of mud that flowed into a town house condominium in the suburb east of Los Angeles, CBS News Correspondent Jerry Bowen reports.

One woman was flown to a hospital while the other two escaped with only minor injuries, said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Mark Savage.

Three people were killed in separate mudslide incidents. According to Bowen, 16-year-old Caitlin Oto was one of them. Rain-loosened boulders crashed into the only child's bedroom as she worked at her computer.

A neighbor said her parents had moved to the rural canyon area to escape city life.

"They're very family ... country," a neighbor

As much as 7 inches of rain slid down the Southern California coast over the past three days. The mountains could see up to 2 feet of snow. Lesser amounts of precipitation were expected farther north, with up to 18 inches of snow possible in the Sierra Nevada. Precipitation is expected to continue until Tuesday.

CBS' Bill Whitaker reports that the overnight rainfall is being blamed for an enormous sinkhole that opened up near Burbank. It's 50 feet wide — bigger than a dinosaur — and growing.

About 30 people were evacuated from 11 homes in Glendale, north of downtown Los Angeles, because of mudslides and flooding, officials said. Three homes on an unstable hill were evacuated in nearby Pasadena.

In the coastal community of La Conchita, where a landslide killed 10 people last month, six families elected to leave during the night because of the heavy rain and a steady flow of mud on the bluffs behind the town, said Capt. Bill Flanagan of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. Warnings had been issued earlier and the community about 70 miles north of Los Angeles was described as a ghost town Saturday after other residents moved out.

The latest batch of rain, snow and hail started battering the region Sunday, part of a series of storms that arrived Friday and was expected to continue into Tuesday.

Since Thursday, downtown Los Angeles had gotten 6.13 inches of rain. The city's total since July 1, the start of the region's "water year," has reached nearly 30 inches, making it already the seventh wettest on record, said weather service forecaster Curt Kaplan. The record, 38.18 inches, was set in 1883-1884.

Metrolink canceled some commuter train service Monday along the Ventura County line north of Moorpark because of the heavy rain. Amtrak had canceled Los Angeles-to-Santa Barbara commuter rail service Friday night because of mudslides in Moorpark. By Monday, southbound Amtrak service had resumed but northbound service was still out.

Early Monday, the rain triggered a mudslide that struck a home in the city's Woodland Hills area in the San Fernando Valley, killing one man, coroner officials said.

In the city's Sun Valley area, a repair worker was killed late Sunday falling into a 30-foot-deep sinkhole created by the storm, said Fire Department spokesman Melissa Kelley. The body wasn't recovered until Monday morning because of downed power lines near the chasm, she said.

And in Orange County, a 16-year-old girl was killed by boulders that crashed into her family's apartment in a rural area east of Irvine, said Joseph Luckey, supervising deputy coroner. Her mother and stepfather were unhurt.

The stormy weather also had knocked out power to some 170,000 customers since Friday, primarily in the South Bay area that includes towns such as Torrance, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach, officials said. About 2,800 homes and businesses still had no electricity by late Sunday, said Steve Conroy, a spokesman for Southern California Edison.

A flash flood watch was in effect for southern Santa Barbara County and all of Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Tuesday evening. A landslide advisory effective through Monday was posted for most of Southern California, especially in recent burn areas.