Mudslide buries I-5 north of Los Angeles in 5 feet of mud

Show Caption Hide Caption Floods and mud strand Los Angeles-area drivers A rain storm caused flash floods and massive mudslides in areas north of Los Angeles on Thursday. Thousands of cars were caught in the mud, many of them on Interstate-5, one of California's major north-south arteries. (Oct. 16)

Emergency teams rescued 14 people from a section of Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles late Thursday after flash floods unleashed mudslides that stranded hundreds of vehicles and forced many drivers to scramble to the roof tops of their cars.

One rain gauge in the Leona Valley reported 3.38 inches of rain in one hour (of which 1.81 inches was in 30 minutes), which the National Weather Service in Los Angeles described as a "1,000-year rainfall event."

A "1,000 year" event means that there's a 1-in-1,000 (or 0.1% chance) of it happening in any given year in a given location, the weather service said. This is at least the 7th "1,000-year rain event" in the U.S. since 2010, according to a USA TODAY analysis.

Up to five feet of mud covered some parts of the northbound lane of the freeway 75 miles north of L.A., around Fort Tejon State Park. Hundreds of vehicles remained stuck in the mud as of Friday morning, the Associated Press reported.

More than 45 miles of I-5 is closed from Santa Clarita to north of Fort Tejon State Park, according to the California Department of Transportation.

"Boulders were just coming down the mountain and we were just like, 'We can't see' and it was just really crazy," said Gabby Vasquez, who was among those stranded, KABC-TV reports.

Mud also surrounded homes in the Elizabeth Lake area, the Los Angeles Times reports. Emergency teams used a helicopter to rescue two people trapped in an SUV partially submerged in rushing water.

State Route 58 in Kern County was closed near Mojave, Calif., about 95 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. In a statement, the California Department of Transportation said it expected the State Route 58 shutdown would be “a long term closure” and advised motorists to seek alternative routes.

Golf ball-sized hail was reported around parts of Palmdale, where rain fell at the rate of six inches per hour and winds gusted up to 60 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

A second highway was closed Thursday night following a separate mudslide. And a number of secondary roads were left impassable from mud and some residents were trapped in their homes.

Cleanup by Los Angeles emergency crews using excavators and trucks is expected to take much of Friday, with the section of the highway likely expected to be closed until mid-afternoon.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department said it rescued 14 people also pulled eight animals to safety.

Capt. Keith Mora of the LAFD said the agency rescued four people and two dogs from atop one car. Many more were able to walk to safety after waiting out the flood on top of their own vehicles, he said, according to the Associated Press.

As much as 1.45 inches of rain fell in a short period of time around 3 p.m. in the area of the most intense flood.

One of the most extreme rainfall reports came from a weather station southwest of Lancaster, Calif., which tallied 2.99 inches of rain in just 30 minutes Thursday afternoon, the Weather Channel reported.

More thunderstorms are expected later Friday, potentially across already hit areas of southern California. The National Weather Service warned that more flash floods were possible.

Flash flood watches have been posted by the weather service for much of southern California, southern Utah, northern Arizona, and southern Nevada.