Mudslides sweep away cars, assault homes near LA

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. (AP) - Thunderous mudslides damaged dozens of homes, swept away cars and pushed furniture into the streets of the foothills north of Los Angeles on Saturday as intense winter rain poured down mountains denuded by a summer wildfire.

No injuries were reported but residents and emergency responders were caught off guard by the unexpected ferocity of the storm, which damaged more than 40 homes and dozens of vehicles.

Five hundred homes were eventually evacuated at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains after heavy rains overflowed debris basins, carried away cement barricades and filled houses with mud and rocks.

Some residents complained they were not told to get out until the brunt of the damage was done - unlike during heavy rains last month when officials repeatedly warned foothill communities to be on alert.

"Nobody knew it was going to be this bad," said Katherine Markgraf, whose mother's house was filled with more than two feet of mud, debris and tangled tree roots. "Last time, they started warning us in time to prepare for it."

The storm's payload came between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Markgraf said she only got an alert around 10:30 a.m.

Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Matt Levesque said forecasters and county and city officials did not anticipate the magnitude of the slow-moving storm.

"If we had known there would have been this much rain we would have evacuated," Levesque said. "It was more rain than anyone thought, and more intense too. And it stalled there over the hillsides."

Rainfall totals topped 4 inches in a 24-hour period in some areas, the National Weather Service said.

Markgraf spoke to a reporter as she stood on Manistee Drive, a cul-de-sac under an overflowed debris basin at what appeared to be the epicenter of the storm's damage.

n 'Snowmageddon' blankets Mid-Atlantic: Cross-country skiers lapped the Reflecting Pool along the National Mall. Hundreds crowded Dupont Circle for a snowball fight organized with the help of the Internet.

The famous Constitution and Independence avenues were desolate and a couple skiers used steps of the Lincoln Memorial for a slope.

The scenes were not what tourists and locals were used to in the nation's capital, which took on a surreal, almost magical Disney World-like feel as it was buried under nearly 2 feet of snow.

"Right now it's like the Epcot Center version of Washington," said Mary Lord, 56, a D.C. resident for some 30 years who had skied around the city.

"Snowmageddon," President Barack Obama called it. Even the president's motorcade - which featured SUVs instead of limousines - fell victim to one of the worst blizzards to ever hit Washington. A tree limb snapped and crashed onto a motorcade vehicle carrying press.