LONG BEACH / SOUTHEAST — Driving rains snarled traffic, caused a minor mudslide and some flooding, but the Southeast area and Long Beach appeared to be in no immediate danger of major damage from the series of storms that drenched Southern California this week.
Local flood-control officials were confident Wednesday that the Southeast area and Long Beach would not suffer major flooding unless storm conditions worsened dramatically.
"It looks very comfortable," said Greg Grigorian, chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' local reservoir regulation section.
The Southeast and Long Beach areas have been spared much of the heavy rains that hit the San Fernando Valley and other parts of Los Angeles County earlier in the week.
During the 48-hour period ending Tuesday at 4 p.m., Long Beach had received less than one inch of rain, compared to the more than seven inches of rain that drenched Northridge during the same period, according to WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts and weather data to The Times.
Wednesday's storm packed more punch for the Southeast and Long Beach area. The area also could be hit by more storms this weekend, WeatherData meteorologist Mike Smith said.
Sheriff's deputies on Wednesday afternoon evacuated the residents of 60 trailers at the Rio Puente Trailer Park on the 6600 block of Rosecrans Avenue in Paramount, Sgt. Mason Kenny said.
Rainwater rose to more than three feet in some places in the trailer park, located in a low-lying area that has flooded in the past.
The water entered some trailers, but no damage estimate was immediately available. There were were no injuries. An evacuation center was set up in a community building at Paramount Park, Kenny said.
Water and mud interrupted service on the Metro Blue Line Wednesday afternoon near the commuter train station on Willow Street and Long Beach Boulevard in Long Beach, said a spokesman for the Southern California Rapid Transit District.
Buses took passengers from that station to other stops.
The rain also closed portions of two streets Wednesday in Signal Hill, and other area cities reported lesser flooding. Rain and standing water also slowed traffic on the Santa Ana and San Gabriel River freeways.
Tuesday's rains triggered a small mudslide at a construction site in the hills of North Whittier.
