Rains Bring Flooding to LA

The Latest: New Rains Bring Minor Flooding in LA Area

The latest on thunderstorms and mudslides that closed California roadways (all times local):

5:30 p.m.

A new round of rains in Southern California is causing minor flooding in streets near downtown Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Fire Department says some cars are struggling with high levels of water on residential streets with clogged storm drains in the Boyle Heights neighborhood.

There were no reports of injuries or major traffic problems.

The National Weather Service issued a flooding advisory — which falls short of a more serious flash flood warning — for areas including downtown LA, Pasadena and Long Beach. The advisory is set to expire at 7:30 p.m.

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1 p.m.

Friends and family members have joined authorities in searching for a 67-year-old man swept away during flash flooding that inundated California homes and roads last week.

Richard Harvell's daughter Susan Garcia said Monday a Kern County Sheriff's Department rescue team is using cadaver dogs. But she added that she, her mother and her five siblings aren't giving up hope of finding him alive.

She says her father, an avid camper, is well schooled in surviving in the rugged desert area where a fierce thunderstorm struck Thursday.

He and a friend were camping at the foot of the Tehachapi Mountains when the storm brought mud and water cascading down the mountainside.

With water rapidly rising, Garcia says her father got out of his camping trailer and tried to get into his truck to move to safer ground. A boulder knocked him off his feet and he was swept away.

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10:30 a.m.

Authorities are searching for a 67-year-old man reportedly swept away during flash flooding that inundated California roads and homes last week.

Kern County sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt said Monday that Richard Harvell of Boron was last seen Thursday evening while trying to save his truck from a torrent of mud. Pruitt says Harvell's truck was later found a short distance away in the Rosamond area.

Rescue teams are searching at the foot of the Tehachapi Mountains, in the open desert near communities hit hard by mudslides Oct. 15. The area saw up to 6 feet of mud come down from hillsides, trapping vehicles on roadways.

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9:28 a.m.

Crews have hauled away the last of more than 100 vehicles buried in mud on a California highway during flash flooding last week, but tons of hardened earth still needs to be removed before lanes reopen.

Florene Trainor, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation, said Monday that drainage systems also need to be cleared along State Route 58 in Kern County, about 110 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Officials hope to reopen the highway by Thursday at the latest.

Landslides trapped dozens of cars, buses, RVs and big-rig trucks during thunderstorms Oct. 15.

To the south, Los Angeles County crews on Sunday reopened stretches of five roads in mountain communities also inundated during the flooding. Work continues on two other roads in the Lake Hughes and Lake Elizabeth areas.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-cars-removed-mud-swamped-california-highway-34575910