Weary Weather Watchers Await New Rain, Mud

Tired of worrying whether the next rain will wash away his home, Dick Spangler took the day off Friday, rented a U-Haul and hired day workers to help him fill another 400 sandbags.

Then the 46-year-old locksmith stacked them around his three-bedroom, wood-frame home on Laguna Canyon Road, more than doubling the size of the fortification already in place and, he hoped, giving him more peace of mind. “I’m getting prepared for a deluge,” Spangler said.

As another storm approached the coast Friday, other homeowners and merchants here were also crossing their fingers, hoping that the barriers of sandbags and hay bales erected throughout the city will hold.

There is an increasing chance of showers and a few thunderstorms by this afternoon, according to WeatherData, which provides forecasts for the Times. By Sunday, the weather should clear, although there is a chance of morning showers, said meteorologist Steve Pryor. The storm is expected to dump about a half an inch of rain on the coast and one to two inches in the mountains, forecasters say.

But even a light rain could cause mudslides in Laguna Beach, where the hills were denuded by the October wildfire. Work crews from the city, the California Conservation Corps and the state Department of Forestry joined residents in preparing for the next storm, cleaning street gutters and storm drains so they would not clog with debris and and worsen flooding.

Terry Brandt, the city’s director of municipal services, said that workers from the Department of Forestry were placing sandbags on a hillside above Skyline Terrace on Friday. Hand crews and about 30 workers from the California Conservation Corps were also busy digging out debris that had collected behind hay bales after last weekend’s rain.

The Conservation Corps crews had been working all week, Brandt said, and were focusing Friday on the watershed above the Canyon Acres neighborhood, where about 20 homes that escaped the fire are especially vulnerable to flooding.

Donna Cobb, a resident of Canyon Acres, said her Volkswagen Rabbit floated down the street in the first storm after the fire and hasn’t started since, despite the best attempts of mechanics to fix it. That first storm, she said, persuaded her and her husband to start sandbagging in earnest.

“The sandbagging makes me feel better, like I’m doing something to help,” she said.

City officials in Villa Park also hope the rain will hold off long enough for the city to finish its annual Christmas Candy Parade, which was cut short by last Saturday’s downpour. The parade includes a firetruck filled with carolers and a Santa Claus who passes out candy to children.

“If we get rained out on our rain date, that’s it,” said City Clerk Kaysene Miller. “There’s just not enough time” to reschedule, she said.

In Newport Beach, the annual Newport Harbor Christmas Boat Parade is scheduled to go on as planned Saturday unless high winds and stormy seas prevent it.

“We’ve run in light rain lots of times before,” said Pat Michaels, a spokesman for the parade.

Merchants in outdoor shopping malls are hoping the rain will stay away or Christmas shoppers will brave the elements on what is for many the biggest weekend of the year.

“I’m hoping for no rain and beautiful weather and sunshine,” said Yolanda Cavina, who sells holiday-decorated inflatable gift wrap at an outdoor push cart in Fashion Island.

“It will be a big loss to us out here to be closed two (consecutive) Saturdays before Christmas,” Cavina said. Last Saturday’s downpour closed the pushcarts that line the walkways of the outdoor mall.

“We’re opening till they tell us to close,” said May Rodgers, who sells fine art portraits from another pushcart.

Some die-hard shoppers said they would be out rain or shine.

“The rain doesn’t stop me,” said Marian Holland of Mission Viejo. “I lived in Virginia for many years and it didn’t stop me,” she said.

Sandbags were also common in the downtown business district of Laguna Beach, which sits in the middle of a flood plain.

Gary Underhill, owner of an export company located across the street from City Hall on Forest Avenue, said he had looked at topography maps with a geologist friend and decided “it is anybody’s guess” how much damage the rains could cause to his office building. “We just hope it will rain slowly,” he said.

Farther down Forest Avenue, Amos Swimmer, owner of a market that has one side entirely exposed to the outdoors, said he is confident that the wall of sandbags he has built along the curb will protect his property from the torrent that may sweep down the street toward the ocean.

He said if the sandbags can’t withstand the water, he will brace them with wooden barricades he has built and stored on the roof.

“Some customers and other merchants kid me. They think I’m ready for World War III and ask when I am going to set up the machine gun nests,” he said. “I believe in being prepared.”

By contrast, Paula Acquarulo, owner of Laguna Flower Co., which operates an outdoor stand on Forest Avenue, said she is too busy filling Christmas orders to worry about possible flooding.

“There isn’t that much I can do about it,” she said. “If it happens, it happens.”

Brandt said extra city workers are on standby to report to work today if necessary. He said if the rain comes, some will be stationed at strategically important catch basins and armed with rakes and shovels to keep them free of debris.

A light rain would actually be beneficial to Laguna Beach, Brandt said, since it could help new seedlings that the city has sprayed on 300 acres of fire-ravaged hillsides to take root and ultimately prevent future mudslides.

After every rain for months to come, Brandt said, work crews will have to head for the hills once again to shore up the city’s storm defenses.

“It is going to be a long winter,” he observed.

Why So Wet?

Weather forecasters say this weekend’s winter storm is expected to bring one-half to one inch of rain to Orange County, possibly lasting through early Monday. Here’s a look at how this winter storm is making its way to the county and why it may linger.

Cold dry air: Excessive cold air will make storm last longer

Warm moist air: Has good circulation, pulls more tropical moisture out of Pacific, creating potential for stronger, wetter storm over Southern California

Jet stream: Up to 200-m.p.h. winds; the more violent the exchange between cold and warm air, the stronger the storm

Four-Day Forecast

Saturday: Scattered showers and thunderstorms

Sunday: Partly cloudy, chance of showers

Monday: Fair

Tuesday: Fair

Sources: National Weather Service, WeatherData Inc.

Researched by CAROLINE LEMKE / Los Angeles Times