At least one person was rescued from the Los Angeles River as a fast-moving storm swept through Southern California on Sunday, bringing hail, rain and thunder to the region.
Rescuers were called to the river near Whitsett Street in Studio City around 5 p.m. after a 35-year-old woman was found in “less than knee-deep” water, according to Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The water was moving at about 15 mph, he said, and continued to sweep the woman downstream even after crews threw her a flotation device and lowered a 24-foot wooden ladder. She was finally rescued by an LAFD helicopter crew using a winch cable and harness.
“She and her LAFD rescuer were safely lifted onto the plane,” Humphrey said, adding that she would receive care for “minor injuries” while being airlifted to the hospital.
The rescue came shortly after residents reported heavy rain and pea-sized hail in areas including Santa Monica, downtown Los Angeles, Pasadena, Monrovia and Covina, according to the National Weather Service, which also issued a flood warning for the San Fernando Valley. and San Gabriel Valley until 7 p.m. Sunday.
Meanwhile, forecasters were eyeing a rare “high-impact” late-season storm that could reach the area by Friday, according to Robbie Munroe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
Munro said Sunday's bout of stormy weather was driven by a cold front moving south across the Southland.
“What is helping the cold air rise is creating instability that supports the heavy rains and thunderstorms we are seeing this afternoon,” he said, adding that the agency is also investigating reports of damaging wind gusts and severe one-inch hailstones. In diameter or larger.
Videos posted on social media showed hailstones falling on windshields, covering driveways and piling up in yards Sunday afternoon.
Areas under a flood warning could see rainfall amounts of a half inch or more in a relatively short period of time, Monroe said. However, the totals were generally less than 10 or 20 of an inch.
But even minimal moisture is rare so late in the rainy season, which typically runs from October to April.
Both Oxnard and Lancaster on Saturday set daily rainfall records of 0.59 inches and 0.53 inches, respectively, the National Weather Service said. The previous records for this date were set in 1935.
The storm is expected to weaken Sunday night into Monday, with the main focus remaining on gusty northerly winds across the mountains of Los Angeles County, and the potential for snow at higher elevations along the Grape River.
Monroe said the “biggest story” of the week is the potential for a large, late-season storm to arrive in the Los Angeles area between Friday and Sunday.
“Early forecasts put us at maybe about 1 to 3 inches in a lot of areas — and maybe locally higher for our south-facing mountains,” he said.
He added that the forecast is still evolving and could change, “but there is a possibility that it will be a moderate or high-impact system for us, which is getting into the late season for Southern California.”
