Southern California hit with more rain as storm's end nears

Feb. 6 (UPI) -- California continued to be hammered Tuesday as the weather system continued to dump heavy rain and flooded homes from San Diego to north of Los Angeles.

After 14 inches inundated some areas, forecasters are predicting another 3 inches in southern California that will overflow streams and see rivers swamping low-lying areas. Flash flood warnings for Beverly Hills and West Hollywood ended before dawn Tuesday.

Downtown Los Angeles saw its worst two-day rainfall since 1956 with a recorded 7.03 inches of rain Sunday and Monday, the third-wettest two-day stretch in city history dating to 1877.

Officials said about 38 million people have been covered by various flood alerts over the past three days in southern California. The weather was blamed for three deaths, and firefighters rescued 16 people from one street in Los Angeles because of a mudslide.

That city has recorded almost 11 inches of rain this year -- well toward the the 14.25-inch average for the entire year.

A new, but weaker, storm system is expected to hit California on Wednesday, dropping more rain from Los Angeles north to San Francisco.

The National Weather Service said the threat of rain will lessen for the rest of the week, leaving southern California to dry out over the upcoming weekend.

"Periods of rain, mountain snow and possible thunderstorms will continue through this evening," the National Weather Service said Tuesday. "A chance of showers will linger through Friday, but will not amount to much.

"Snow levels will lower each day with mountain snow issues increasing. Gusty west-to-northwest winds will form Wednesday and continue into Thursday. The weekend will be dry and warmer."