Altadena Above It All

From Carolyn:

As of 11 am this morning, the County’s Unified Command has issued the following information in preparation for the storm event expected to affect the Foothill burn areas, including Altadena.

The Unified Command consists of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works.

WEATHER    Rain is expected to begin around midnight tonight and continue until 4 pm Saturday, February 27th.  Rainfall is anticipated to be up to 3 inches with the possibility of Thunderstorms that may produce rainfall at a rate greater than 1/2 inch per hour.

DEBRIS BASINS    The County Department of Public Works has many of the debris basis fully cleared and at 100% available capacity.   They believe that others that are not yet at 100% capacity have been cleared to the greatest extent possible and they believe the basis will have adequate capacity to accommodate this particular storm event.

ROAD CLOSURES    There are no new road closures expected for Altadena, except the existing closure at the Chaney Trail Gate.

MANDATORY EVACUATIONS    There are no announced nor anticipated evacuations for Altadena at this point, except that Millard Campground remains closed.  There are mandatory evacuation orders for portions of La Canada and La Crescenta.  A total of 244 residences will be under mandatory evacuation orders in those communities, with 85 of these in La Crescenta and the remainder in La Canada.   The mandatory evacuation order in these areas well begin at 4 pm today with evacuation completed by 6 pm.  All of the agencies are asking for mandatory evacuation orders to be honored for the protection of the residents and for the protection of all emergency responders.

INCIDENT COMMAND POSTS    are being set up today.  Los Angeles County Fire will set up a Command Post at Camp 2 by 3 pm and the Fire Department will have augmented staffing to respond if issues arise.  Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will have a Command Post set up at Descanso Gardens by 3 pm today and will also have augmented staffing in the area to respond to issues, conduct the evacuation and to protect the evacuated areas.  The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works will also be working in the evacuation areas and will continue to monitor all of the debris basins and intakes 24 hours per day.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION    is available at www.dpwcare.org and information on anticipated rainfall, flooding, mud and debris flows is available here:  http://dpw.lacounty.gov/wrd/forecast/file/mud4cast.pdf

As always, stay safe and don’t forget to attend tomorrow’s Neighborhood Watch Conference at Loma Alta Park to learn more about ways you can protect yourself and your family.

Carolyn

If it’s March, it must be time for the next group show at GATEOTW!

Come out Thursday March 4 for the artist’s reception, Friday night for the infamous party, or Saturday/Sunday for brunch. It’s Altadena’s art party! I’ll be showing more scanography. Here’s a sample.  

© debbi k. swanson

From Carolyn Seitz:

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works has released information on the storm expected to arrive in our area around 6 pm Friday, February 19.

The National Weather Service is predicting rainfall of 1 to 2 inches in the foothill areas between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, with a slight chance of thunderstorms Friday night and early Saturday morning that may produce higher rainfall amounts.

 The mud and debris flow alert reminds us all that we should anticipate that mud and debris may flow down the canyons below the burn areas, in the watercourses and streams. In Altadena, it means that there is still a potential for impact on Canyon Crest.

The County continues to prepare, and will be monitoring the debris basins during the storm, and as many of you are aware, will continue to clean the basins and inlets, before, during and after the storm. There is no evacuation anticipated for Altadena, except that the Millard Campground area remains closed. There are no road closures in Altadena except the existing closure at the Chaney Trail Gate.

As the agencies release updated information, I’ll pass along what is released. If you’re interested in seeing the mud and debris flow predictions – the “mudcast” as it’s being called, you can find the information at this location: http://dpw.lacounty.gov/wrd/forecast/file/mud4cast.pdf

From Elliot Gold:

Upside-Down-T Folks:

Shirley and I met tonight with Kate Dean, the head of the Aveson Charter School in Pasadena.

As you might have heard, they would like to move into Edison.

They walked the neighborhood on Saturday and talked to several of you, and when Shirley and I met with Kate, we told her it was best  to have a meeting at our house to discuss this.

Please mark your calendar

Tuesday February 23
7:30 PM – 8:30 PM
The Gold’s House
50 W. Palm
+1-626-797-5482
Let me know if you can make it.

And YES, I will have a flier out in a day or so, and details on our Blog site (http://upside-down-t.blogspot.com/), but not for a couple of days.

Sorry for delay is posting this good news from the Altadena SheriffStation.

Detectives announce the arrest of Ralph Wyatt MB/49, an Altadena resident for burglary, stalking and sexual battery of two women, ages 89 and 49.

Between January 23, 2010 through January 31, 2010, multiple residential burglaries of two separate locations were reported in the Altadena community. The suspect left unique apology notes at each scene, which included sexual explicit references and indicated on at least one note, that he would return. A partial print was collected by the Los Angeles County Crime Lab, which returned to a registered sex offender, residing in Altadena.

A search warrant was obtained and executed, on February 3, 2010, at Suspect Ralph Wyatt’s home in the 1000 block of East Woodbury Road. Suspect Wyatt was taken into custody and conclusive evidence of his involvement in the crimes was recovered. Suspect Wyatt was booked at Crescenta Valley Station.

The facts of the case were presented, by Detective Richard Pippin, to the District Attorney’s Office of Pasadena Court, and four count of residential burglary, two counts of stalking and one count of sexual battery were filed against Suspect Wyatt.

Based on the circumstances of the crimes, it is believed that there maybe additional victims. Anyone with additional information or questions should contact Sergeant Danny Robinson, Altadena Station Detective Bureau (626) 798-1131.

At this evening’s conference call with the Incident Commanders, we learned the following things:
During today’s rains, there were no injuries, no damage and no reportable incidents attributable to flooding, mud or debris flows
None of the debris basins breached their capacity today

The Weather Service is indicating that there is another band of showers expected to arrive in the area around 11 pm tonight and it will be followed by a trailing cold front that is expected to produce thunder storms and showers with the potential for rainfall amounts at times up to 2 inches per hour
Today’s rainfall as measured in LaCanada/Flintridge was approximately 0.72 inches today

All debris basins are draining and all inlet structures are being monitored 24/7 and cleared as necessary
Crews from the Department of Public Works will continue to work to clear the mud and debris from the basins and inlet structures through the weekend, or as long as necessary

While there are evacuation orders in place for La Crescenta, LaCanada/Flintridge and Acton, there are none in effect for Altadena except the Millard Canyon Campground
There is still a possibility of additional rainfall on Saturday
There are no further road closures for Altadena, except the one in place at the Chaney Trail gate

The news for today was better than all of the agencies planned and prepared for.

We owe our thanks to Supervisor Antonovich and his staff for making sure that information is being made available to all of us and for making sure that the communication and sharing of information among agencies is working well, and we owe all of the agencies our thanks for being ahead of the incident and for keeping us all safe.

Updated information on the status of the debris basins should be updated around 8 am tomorrow by the Department of Public Works.  You can find that information at www.dpwcare.org.

Come one, come all, to the second annual SGV Blogger’s Potluck Picnic March 20 at Farnsworth Park.

Sponsored by yours truly, Tim at Altadenablog, Karin at Altadena Hiker and Susan at Open Mouth, Insert Fork. RSVP to altadenablog@gmail.com or karin.bugge@sbcglobal.net

See ya there!

What really happened when Jack Parsons and L.Ron Hubbard summoned the Babalon Goddess?

Find out in Pasadena Babalon, Feb. 19-27, Caltech’s Ramo Auditorium

http://media.caltech.edu/events/105449

Greg Stanton has some shots of the flood in action this morning. http://www.welcometothemeadows.blogspot.com/

Here’s some more from AltadenaAboveitAll’s outing.

“I was in my house and heard this horrendous noise. I thought it was thunder. We looked down at the creek and saw the trees tremble and then fall down.”

That’s what my pals Bob Reid and Greg Downs who live on Canyon Crest said this morning as the water in the arroyo let loose, topping the sides of the banks and propelling rocks and boulders down the canyon.

Caught in the mudflow was Rueben Ruiz and Brandon Leon and his dad, each in different trucks. Ruiz, heading down the canyon, suffered the worst. His truck completely spinned sideways, into the Leon’s truck, mud covering his roof. Ruiz had to climb out of the passenger window, getting covered in mud himself.

“I have a house up at the top that I am restoring. I was on my way down and got caught. Had to climb out that window. I can laugh now.”

Take a look at the pix. What a mess. Even Univision TV showed up to document the event.

Posting one now, more later and some over on AltadenaDailyPhoto.com