LOS ANGELES – Skies were clearing Monday over a waterlogged Biola after a week of downpours and heavy snowfall in California that led to avalanche and traffic deaths but only minor flooding and slides.
Though flooding has been a problem in the past at Biola, the impact of the downpour this week was minor and caused very little problems to the grounds and plumbing staff, according to Brian Phillips, senior director of facility services.
Before today some students had cause to worry about getting back to school. Highways that had closed because of heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada were reopened Monday including a nearly 130-mile stretch of U.S. 395 just north of Bishop to the Nevada state line, state officials said. Interstate 80 through the Sierra between Sacramento and Reno, Nev., also was reopened Monday but chains were required, according to a Department of Transportation Web site.
The storm produced wind approaching 40 mph during the night in the mountains east of Los Angeles, said Penny Dodge, a desk clerk at the mountain resort community Big Bear Lake. It was the worst she has seen in her seven years in the area.
"We had it all last night — the wind and the blowing," she said Monday.
The storm system was headed east Monday and could bring winds and heavy moisture to the Great Plains, National Weather Service forecaster Stan Wachowski said.
But California was due for a reprieve that would last at until at least Wednesday, when there was a 20 percent chance of rain.
“It’s a group effort and all about being aware of vulnerable areas,” said Phillips. Phillips, who gauges rainfall by the debris line left among Biola’s creek, said that this rainfall doesn’t compare to others he has seen in the past years.
Up to 3 inches of rain had fallen since Saturday along the Southern California coast, with nearly 8 inches in some remote mountain areas, the weather service said. The storms had pushed the seasonal total for Los Angeles to more than 11 inches, well past the norm of 6.5 inches at this time of year.
A few things were adjusted prior to the heavy rainfalls of the weekend at Biola, including a backed up drain around lower Feinberg and a flooded electrical vault filled with about three inches of water. The electrical vault was pumped out Friday afternoon, causing only a brief period of electrical loss to Thompson Hall.
According to Phillips, past years have seen many problems caused by rainfall, including a severe overflow of the creek which resulted in a flooding of the entire parking garage. Since then, it has been the group effort to make sure no more problems arise again.
About ten years ago a floodwall was initiated in construction, which has since then been completed in the area surrounding Stewart Hall. This year very little correcting precautions had to be made, with only an addition of a sub-pump to help pump out excess water into the streets.
Biola is fairly safe from the storm’s flooding impact due to the fact that it remained untouched during the fires of fall 2007. Experts said hillsides in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties charred by last year's wildfires remained at risk for landslides.
Sue Cannon of the U.S. Geological Survey's landslide hazards program said the ground has not been able to dry out because of the back-to-back storms. "It still is a very hazardous situation," she said.
