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Storms trash California beaches, bring snow

24 January 2010 01:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ziya Agazade â€“ APA. The sky was blue and the sun bright for the first time in days after a week of powerful Southern California rain storms, but all Victoria Macey could see was the mountain of steaming trash and twisted debris on her favorite beach, APA reports citing â€œAssociated Press.â€

The mounds of soggy sofa cushions, rusted shopping carts, plastic children’s toys, dented refrigerators and hundreds of plastic cans and food wrappers were just one calling card left by a week of punishing rain that pelted Southern California and went on to tangle with Arizona and New Mexico.

About 35 miles to the north of Seal Beach, hundreds of residents who evacuated from wildfire-scarred communities in the San Gabriel Mountain foothills north of Los Angeles returned home Saturday to assess the damage and remove mud and debris from their properties. There were no reports of major damage despite widespread concerns about mudslides and debris flows from the relentless rain.

About half of the 500 residents of a small western Arizona farming community who were evacuated after floodwaters swept through the town Thursday, returned Saturday. Muddied streets and damaged homes and businesses remained, and La Paz County sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Glenn Gilbert said the community was in cleanup mode. Many said they were happy to survive the storm.