Rain soaks California, causing flooding, but will not end drought

Tourists wearing rain gear stand next to Oscar statues covered with plastic in preparation for the 86th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Go to gallery Tourists wearing rain stand next to Oscar statues covered with plastic during preparation k .. Sharon Bernstein Sacramento, California (Reuters)-big winter storm brought much needed relief to parched California on Friday, boosting depleted reservoirs and mountain snow of the Sierra Nevada, but officials said the rainfall would be too small to compensate for years of drought. Torrential rains also prompted flash flood warnings for much of Southern California and creates a particular threat to the foothill areas, where recent fires stripped vegetation from large areas, leaving the house below vulnerable to potential landslides. Mandatory evacuations were in effect on Friday more than 1,200 homes in some slide-prone areas east of Los Angeles, where sandbags were placed around driveways and miles of concrete barriers lined the streets to direct heavy runoff from hillside homes. In the showers even creates problems for crews preparing for Sunday night's Oscar ceremony in Hollywood, absorbing part of the newly installed red carpet. California is in the third year of the dry season, which can break all records in the most populous U.S. state, where lawmakers on Thursday swiftly passed a series of proposals to assist drought Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature. U.S. President Barack Obama also pledged millions of dollars in aid. Storm on Friday, and less bandwidth showers on Wednesday, came as a welcome break in the relentless dry weather in California, but will do little to alleviate the crisis of the state substantially water. "Despite these recent storms, it would still not rain through the day until around May to reach the average amount of precipitation, and even then we would still be in a drought due to the last two dry years," said Richard Stapler, spokesman California Natural Resources Agency. Brown declared a drought emergency last month and called on government officials to prepare for water shortages and to develop solutions for a potentially long dry weather. View galleryResident carries a bag of sand across the yard flooded by storm ... A resident carries a sandbag across the yard flooded Stormwater runoff from the mountain slopes damaged last mont ... Officials said that California farmers are facing drastic cutbacks in irrigation water is expected to idle half a million acres of arable land in this year's record production losses that could cause billions of dollars in economic damage. Moderate to heavy rains across southern and central California on Friday, is expected to taper off by Saturday afternoon, the National Weather Service said. The coastal city of Oxnard, north of Los Angeles, has received nearly 2 inches of rain by the end of the day, the highest rainfall measured at any point in the United States during the day, depending on the weather service. Rock slides and saves RIVER Rain and strong winds caused road closures and power outages throughout Southern California and brought enough snow that chains were required for driving on mountain roads near the border of Nevada. In Los Angeles, 14,000 customers were without power by mid-morning. People were drenched as strong winds turned umbrellas inside out and went almost sideways rain as they waited for buses and light rail trains. Near Malibu, crews worked to clear the debris from the Pacific Coast Highway north of affluent seaside town after rock slides prompted officials to shut down the 10-mile (16 km) section of the scenic road. Patrick Chandler, a spokesman for the California Department of Transportation, said a large fire in the area last year weakened the stability of slopes in the area. "Many times when you have rain in this area, especially with the drought, you'll have plenty of loose rocks coming down," said Chandler. Later Friday, the agency closed the Angeles Crest Highway in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles after a landslide made the road impassable. Several recreation areas Angeles National Forest were closed. By noon, there were 158 accidents of cars in the Los Angeles area, more than 112 than the previous Friday, according to the California Highway Patrol. Firefighters rescued two homeless people who went with their dogs in the trees to avoid the rapidly growing water flowing through the Los Angeles River near the camp, and another man was plucked from another place of safety along the river later in the day, a spokesman for the fire department said. Air traffic was also affected by the international airport of Los Angeles, where 19 inbound and outbound flights were canceled on Friday morning, officials said. In northern California, about 13,000 customers lost power in San Francisco and wine Sonoma County, said Jason King, a spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric power company. Although many of these households and businesses have their power restored by early afternoon, the company expected more off place on Friday evening, as prodolzhaldozhdlivoy and windy weather, King said. (Additional reporting by Laila Kearney in San Francisco and Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Cynthia Johnson, Grant McCool and Lisa Shumaker)