CLIMATE MOOT HITS DEADLOCK

Updated at: 2233 PST, Friday, December 18, 2009
COPENHAGEN: The marathon UN climate talks stumbled into overtime on Friday with leaders still deadlocked over the wording of a pact to temper global warming.The 12-day meeting in Copenhagen was scheduled to have finished at 6:00pm (1700 GMT) but a spokesman for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) confirmed there was no immediate end in sight."Things are going to go on a long time," Eric Hall told reporters.

7 critical after La. highway wreck that killed 5

By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer
MaNEW ORLEANS – Four children ages 2 to 14 were among five people killed when a minivan packed with kids rolled on a Louisiana interstate, and seven others remained in critical condition, state police said sunday
None of the 13 children in the van was wearing a seatbelt, and all were thrown from the vehicle. The van didn't have enough seatbelts for everyone and probably couldn't have safely carried more than 10, police spokesman Russell Graham said.
"I just saw the vehicle flip about three or four times and kids flying everywhere," witness Tammy Hall told WAFB-TV. "It looked to be about 10 to 11 kids out of the car. And everyone started stopping, and we went to get her, and you could tell the driver was dead instantly."
Two other children and the GMC Safari's adult passenger were in stable condition. The surviving children ranged from less than a year old to 14, Louisiana State Police said in a news release.
Police identified the dead as the driver, 38-year-old Mona Hines; 2-year-old Ricky Hines Jr.; 12-year-old Lachante Floyd; 14-year-old Edward Barnes; and 14-year-old Ashley Hines.
Authorities have said the van blew a tire, clipped a delivery truck and rolled on Interstate 10 near Baton Rouge.
The driver of the truck managed to steer to the side of the road and was not injured.
Alcohol was not suspected as a factor in the crash.
Some people in the van were family members from Harvey, La., about 75 miles northeast of the crash site, Graham said. He did not know where the van was going.
"The Louisiana Legislature just passed a law making it mandatory to wear seatbelts in both the front and back seats," Graham said. "This is a good illustration of why they did."

Snow lets up in West, Plains; South gets drenched

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – While residents in some Western and Plains states were digging out Friday after an early blast of snow, heavy rain and strong winds that toppled trees, power lines and church steeples lashed parts of the South, leaving one person dead.
The rain was forecast to let up Friday, but the National Weather Service cautioned that the ground was so saturated that even a modest amount of additional rain could cause flash flooding from the western Gulf Coast to the mid-Mississippi Valley.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency after storms caused flooded roads, power outages and wind damage in the northwestern part of the state. A 20-year-old driver was killed Thursday when his car ran under a toppled tree near Shreveport, authorities said.
Meanwhile, the snowstorm that walloped Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas earlier in the week tapered off, but some roads across the region remained treacherous.
Gusty winds and blowing snow kept nearly all major highways in southeast Wyoming shut down. U.S. Highway 20 at the north end of the Nebraska Panhandle reopened into Wyoming. Interstate 80 remained closed west of North Platte to the Wyoming state line.
In northern Colorado, northbound Interstate 25 from Wellington to the Wyoming state line remained shut down, while highways in eastern Colorado and western Kansas, including Interstates 70 and 76, reopened.
The storm, which began Tuesday, had spread 3 feet of snow and left much higher drifts across parts of northern Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.
About 15 inches fell in the Deadwood, S.D., area, causing officials to shut down Mount Rushmore National Memorial. It reopened Friday morning.
Winter weather advisories remained in effect Friday for southeast Wyoming and western Nebraska.
Meanwhile, flood warnings stretch from the western Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes, with flash flood warnings in effect for eastern Arkansas, western Tennesseee, western Kentucky and southeast Missouri.
Several tornadoes touched down in Louisiana and Arkansas on Thursday. A steeple blew off a church in Shreveport, La., hitting a car. The 57-year-old driver had to be pulled out by rescuers and suffered broken bones, authorities said.
Caddo Parish Sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Chadwick said a sheriff's substation south of Shreveport flooded with about 8 inches of water Friday. Electrical equipment and personnel were moved to a nearby church. Chadwick said deputies used boats to rescue people from a subdivision with flooded roads.
Heavy rain across Arkansas also stranded an unknown number of people in their homes, while strong winds damaged buildings and knocked over trees and utility lines.
In Harrison, Lori Hudson blamed a change in drainage patterns for an ankle-high flood in her home.
"I've got a river running through my house," Hudson said.
In Pine Bluff, part of the roof of a Walmart store blew off during storms Thursday night. Among the damage at the First Assembly of God Church, the steeple was bent over by the strong winds.
"The steeple almost looked like a witch's hat," Pine Bluff police spokesman Lt. Bob Rawlinson said.

Swine flu kids' deaths jump to 114

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe, Ap Medical Writer – 9 mins ago
ATLANTA – Swine flu has caused at least 19 more children's deaths — the largest one-week increase since the pandemic started in April, health officials said Friday.
At least 114 children have died from swine flu complications since the spring, up from 95 reported a week earlier, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to release the last of its stockpile of liquid Tamiflu for children because of reported shortages of the swine flu treatment. Enough to treat some 234,000 children is being released.
"We didn't see a reason to keep it in reserve when we have so much illness in children now," CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said at a news conference.
The government sent some of the stockpile to states in the spring and more earlier this month. To replenish the supply, the government has ordered more from Tamiflu's manufacturer, Switzerland-based Roche Holdings, he added. But that medicine is not expected to come in until early next year.
Pharmacies are able to convert adult Tamiflu capsules — which are in good supply — to pediatric doses, he added.
The 19 new deaths in children under 18 represent lab-confirmed cases reported in the week ending Oct. 23. The CDC also received three other reports of children dying from flu. Those are also believed to be swine flu fatalities but those cases didn't undergo full lab-testing to confirm that.
The increase probably reflects the rise in illnesses that have been seen in many parts of the country this month, and the numbers are expected to get worse, Frieden said.
In the past two months, health officials have seen more reports of flu hospitalizations in non-elderly people than they normally do in entire six-month flu seasons he added.
Swine flu is more widespread now than it's ever been, with 48 states now reporting widespread flu activity. The only states without widespread flu are Hawaii and South Carolina.
Except for children, CDC officials do not keep an exact count of all U.S. swine flu deaths, but say the number has surpassed 1,000. They don't have a tally of all swine flu illnesses, either, but say many millions have been at least mildly sickened by the virus since it was first identified in April.
Each year 50 to 100 American children die from complications of seasonal flu, which tends to hit the elderly the hardest. Seasonal flu kills an estimated 36,000 Americans annually.
The swine flu vaccination program that began Oct. 5 is picking up, Frieden said Friday. Initially there were only a trickle of doses, frustrating worried people cross the country. But manufacturers have been releasing more doses, and now nearly 27 million doses are available for shipment, up from 16 million a week ago.
According to preliminary information, about half of those vaccinated so far are children and half are non-elderly adults. A very small percentage are elderly. That's appropriate, because many elderly people seem to have some immunity to the virus and so are not considered a priority group for the limited vaccine doses.
The government determined the high-risk groups include children and young people through age 24, people caring for infants under 6 months, pregnant women and health care workers.
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On the Net:
CDC swine flu update: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_he_me/storytext/us_med_swine_flu/33915652/SIG=117030i4j/*http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm

Winds slow repairs after metal crashes onto bridge

By LISA LEFF and JOHN MARSHALL, Associated Press Writers Lisa Leff And John Marshall, Associated Press Writers –

SAN FRANCISCO – High winds hampered efforts Wednesday to make repairs and reopen the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge after two rods and a 5,000-pound crossbeam fell into traffic lanes.
Three cars were damaged, and one person suffered minor injuries when the metal debris fell onto the heavily used span during rush hour Tuesday.
Construction crews working through the night fought winds that gusted to 35 mph as they brought in heavy machinery to try to move the metal and make the repairs.
"We have several thousand pounds of steel we have to place hundreds of feet off the deck, so worker safety is a concern," said Bart Ney, a spokesman for the state Transportation Department
There was a chance the bridge could reopen Thursday, he said, noting wind was a contributing factor in the failure of the rods.
Traffic was jammed early Wednesday on other San Francisco-area highways, as motorists looked for alternatives to the bridge, which carries about 280,000 cars each day.
The pieces that broke were part of major repairs done over Labor Day weekend after crews discovered a cracked link during an earthquake safety upgrade. The rods that broke were holding a saddle-like cap that had been installed over the cracked link.
When a rod snapped about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, it brought down a steel patch roughly three feet long, authorities said.
"It's a very fortunate situation," said California Highway Patrol Sgt. Trent Cross. "It was in the heart of the evening commute and you had a 5,000 pound chunk of metal fall approximately 100 feet."
The Bay Area Rapid Transit Agency increased service to accommodate commuters.
Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, a civil engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who has spent 20 years studying the Bay Bridge, called the initial crack a "warning sign" of potentially bigger safety issues with the bridge.

"The repair they were doing was really a Band-Aid," said Astaneh-Asl, who criticized Caltrans at the time for rushing to reopen the bridge.
Astaneh-Asl said the failure of the repair job demonstrates the need for a longer-term solution. The age and design of the bridge make it susceptible to collapse, especially if commercial tractor-trailers are allowed to continue using it, he said.
"I think Caltrans is putting public relations ahead of public safety," he said.
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Associated Press Writer Sudhin Thanawala and Video Journalist Haven Daley contributed to this story.

LA's top prosecutor vows to target pot shops

By GREG RISLING, Associated Press Writer Greg Risling, Associated Press Writer – 20 mins ago
LOS ANGELES – Clay Tepel knew there were risks to setting up a medical marijuana shop: it could lose money, be robbed or be raided by authorities.
Still, he wasn't expecting the phone call one August day when a voice said the police were outside and he needed to open up or they would bust down the door. His first thought, that it was a joke, turned to terror when he opened the door.
Heavily armed officers in helmets, bulletproof vests and, oddly enough, Bermuda shorts stormed his store, handcuffed him, disabled security cameras and seized his drugs before taking him to jail. When he asked why his shop was invaded, an officer responded, "We're closing them all down."
Those words could prove prescient after Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said last week he wants to shutter clinics that sell pot for profit. Cooley's plan is the latest salvo in a prolonged conflict in California over whether medical marijuana is truly having its intended effect or is being abused by the larger population.
Until recently, raids on clinics typically led to federal prosecutions, but Cooley's remarks and similar ones from Attorney General Jerry Brown signal a new approach to clear the haze left by Proposition 215, the 1996 state ballot measure that allowed sick people with referrals from doctors and an identification card to smoke pot.
"Everybody is scared," said Tepel, who has spoken with other pot store operators. "Why are voters' rights being stepped all over? This kind of blind justice has to stop."
The crackdown is a crushing blow for dispensary owners who were relieved in March when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said federal agents would only go after marijuana distributors who violate both federal and state laws.
A new policy memo issued Monday by the Justice Department told prosecutors that pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers should not be targeted for federal prosecution in states that allow medical marijuana. The guidelines do, however, make it clear that federal agents will go after people whose distribution goes beyond what is permitted under state law or use medical marijuana as a cover for other crimes.
The comments Holder made earlier this year appear to have emboldened entrepreneurs as marijuana shops cropped up across California. In Los Angeles alone, there are an estimated 800 dispensaries, more than any other city in the nation. In 2005, there were only four, authorities said.
Cooley contends a vast majority of several hundred outlets his office investigated aren't following state law. Initially, the law allowed authorized marijuana users to grow their own plants, but lawmakers revised the law in 2003 to allow collectives to provide pot grown by members.
Cooley said he would target stores who are profiting and selling to people who don't qualify for medicinal marijuana.
"All those who are operating illegally, our advice to them is to shut down voluntarily and they won't be subject to prosecution," Cooley told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
At the same time, advocates are gathering signatures to get as many as three pot-legalization measures on next year's ballot in California. One poll shows voters would support legalizing marijuana outright. Thirteen states, including California, allow medical marijuana.
Cooley said his office has been assessing the rush of marijuana dispensaries for the past two years and has provided training for his staff over the past several months in anticipation of filing cases.
"Holder's statement probably created the impression that there wasn't going to be any federal investigation or prosecution of these entities," Cooley said. "There has to be some clarification."
Some legal observers believe the first case Cooley files since his announcement will show how egregious the illegal behavior has become among medical marijuana outlets.
"He's going to find a dispensary that is way over the line," said Rory Little, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law.
Among the candidates are Jeffrey Joseph, who runs Organica and was arrested in August but has yet to be charged. Authorities recovered 452 marijuana plants, more than 100 pounds of hashish and more than $100,000 in cash from his home and dispensaries in Marina del Rey and Culver City.
Defense attorney William Kroger said authorities fail to account for expenses and other costs dispensary owners incur and the proliferation of new rivals has hurt business.
"Most of my clients aren't making a lot of money," said Kroger, who represents about a dozen other owners. "I'd like to see Cooley sit down with us and keep shops open for those who need it and thin out the herd so there aren't so many of them."
James Shaw of the Union of Medical Marijuana Patients, an advocacy group for users, said his group plans to file a lawsuit against the city and county of Los Angeles to prohibit prosecution of legal organizations.
While the definition of a compliant dispensary is open to interpretation, Shaw said it's up to local municipalities to determine what matches up best with state law.
"Wherever there are regulations, there is less need for law enforcement intervention," Shaw said.
Nowhere is the topic more muddled than in Los Angeles, where city officials say plenty of people are getting high for the wrong reasons.
While the city has had a moratorium prohibiting new medical marijuana facilities for two years, officials have been unable to pass an ordinance governing the dispensaries. More than 180 dispensaries qualified to remain open under the moratorium, but many others took advantage of a loophole known as a "hardship exemption" that allowed them to open while awaiting city approval.
Tepel, a married father of four, agrees some pot clinics abuse the system but he maintains he had all the proper paperwork and followed the rules. If police had thoroughly investigated, they would have found most of his customers were either older or female, as opposed to younger men, and many grew their own marijuana and sold the drug to Tepel as allowed by the state.
After investing tens of thousands of dollars, Tepel argued it will take years to recoup his investment.
Tepel believes his shop in a strip mall with tinted black windows was targeted because it was on a busy street and not "in the hood or in a back alley."
"We're not tatted-up drug dealers. This is a family run operation," said Tepel, who is scheduled to be arraigned Monday on one count of felony possession of marijuana with the intent to sell. "I don't want to do anything to jeopardize my future, my family's future. We didn't deserve this."

Sheriff: Charges will be filed in balloon saga

By DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Dan Elliott, Associated Press Writer – 7 mins ago:
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – A sheriff said he was pursuing criminal charges in Colorado's "balloon boy" saga, which first sparked fear for the child, then relief that he was OK and now suspicions of a hoax.
Deputies searched the home of the boy's parents Saturday night, carrying away several boxes and a computer. The family did not spend the night at the house, then returned in their maroon minivan Sunday morning and went inside without speaking to reporters.
The parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, met with Larimer County investigators for much of Saturday afternoon amid lingering questions about whether he perpetrated a publicity stunt when his 6-year-old son Falcon vanished into the rafters of his garage while the world thought he was zooming through the sky in a flying saucer-like helium balloon.
But Sheriff Jim Alderden didn't say who would be charged or what the charges would be. His deputies later showed up at the Heene's Fort Collins home with a search warrant and at least three of them began a search. Sgt. Ian Stewart declined to say what they were after.
Alderden on Saturday didn't call Thursday's hours-long drama a hoax, but he expressed disappointment that he couldn't level more serious charges in the incident, which sent police and the military scrambling to save young Falcon Heene as millions of worried television viewers watched.
"We were looking at Class 3 misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough given the circumstances," Alderden said. "We are talking to the district attorney, federal officials to see if perhaps there aren't additional federal charges that are appropriate in this circumstance."
Alderden earlier said the family could be charged with making a false report to authorities — a Class 3 misdemeanor — if it was determined the balloon saga was a hoax. The low-level crime carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $750 fine, with a minimum sentence of a $50 fine.
Suspicion that the balloon saga was a hoax arose almost immediately after Falcon was found hiding in the garage. Heene, a storm chaser and inventor whose family has appeared on the reality show "Wife Swap," and his wife had said one of the boy's older brothers said Falcon was aboard the homemade balloon when it took off.
Alderden initially said there was no reason to believe the incident was a hoax. Authorities questioned the Heenes again after Falcon turned to his dad during a CNN interview Thursday night and said "you said we did this for a show" when asked why he didn't come out of his hiding place.
Falcon got sick during two separate TV interviews Friday when asked again why he hid.
After the sheriff spoke to reporters Saturday, Richard Heene and his wife walked out of his office after meeting with officials for several hours.
As reporters yelled questions, Heene said: "I was talking to the sheriff's department just now." He then walked to his car with his wife and a friend and drove away. It wasn't clear where the family spent Saturday night.
The Heenes have said the balloon was supposed to be tethered to the ground when it lifted off, and no one was supposed to be aboard. The family was videotaping as they tested the balloon, which they said was supposed to hover about 50 to 100 feet from the ground, held down by tethers.
The video shows the family counting down in unison, "3, 2, 1," before Richard Heene pulls a cord, apparently accidentally setting the balloon high into the air.
"Whoa!" one of the boys exclaims. Then his father says in disbelief, "Oh, my God!" He then says to someone, "You didn't put the (expletive) tether down!" and he kicks the wood frame that had held the balloon.
Falcon's brother said he saw him inside the compartment before it took off and that's why they thought he was in there when it launched. Heene said he had yelled at Falcon before the launch for getting inside.
Over the years, Richard Heene has worked as a storm chaser, a handyman and contractor, and an aspiring reality-TV star.
He and his family appeared on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap," and the show's producer said it had a show in development with the Heenes but the deal is now off. TLC also said Heene had pitched a reality show to the network months ago, but it passed on the offer.
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Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers P. Solomon Banda in Fort Collins; Judith Kohler, Ivan Moreno and Colleen Slevin in Denver; and Greg Risling, Lynn Elber and Solvej Schou in Los Angeles.

Michelle Obama honors Fla. students, teachers

AP

By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, Associated Press Writer Laura Wides-munoz, Associated Press Writer – 9 mins ago
MIAMI – There's a growing sense among today's youth that public service "is a little cool," first lady Michelle Obama told Florida students and teachers Thursday. The challenge, she said, is figuring out how to harness that new energy.
"How do we show these young people that service is more than what you do once in a while, or for a year or two after college?" asked the first lady, who has made volunteerism and education among her signature issues.
Obama was the keynote speaker at the Florida Campus Compact Awards Gala held at Miami-Dade College, an annual event honoring students and teachers from across the state for their commitments to public service and civic leadership.
Obama recalled her own decision to leave a high-paying job at a prestigious Chicago law firm to work with a local nonprofit.
"My mother thought I'd taken her advice to follow my heart a little too closely," she said, but added that helping young people become involved with their communities was far more rewarding than "sitting behind a big fancy desk."
Obama said that even in these tough economic times, she remains optimistic about the interest in public service. She cited the more than 25,000 people who applied for 4,000 Teach for America positions last year. She also highlighted her husband's work to boost public-private partnerships and a coordinated effort among television networks to air service-themed programs.
"I know that what you're doing isn't easy, especially now. I know that many of you are struggling with budget cuts and layoffs, and you're all struggling in that perfect storm of decreasing donations and increasing demands," she said.
"The only thing I can say is hang in there, don't stop. Keep it going. There are young people who are looking to you for who they can be," she said.
Thursday's luncheon was held at the Freedom Tower in the heart of downtown. The national historic landmark, now part of the college, was used in the 1960s by immigration officials to process thousands of refugees fleeing the Cuban revolution.
The first lady planned to travel north to Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle to meet with military families later in the afternoon.

SoCal storm menaces neighborhoods near burn areas

By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON, Associated Press Writer Raquel Maria Dillon, Associated Press Writer – 4 mins ago:
LOS ANGELES – A powerful fall storm packing strong winds and rain drenched fire-scarred hillsides around California on Wednesday, and residents from north to south braced for possible mudslides and debris flows.
The storm prompted evacuation warnings earlier Tuesday near Santa Cruz and disrupted power across the state.
Officials urged residents to evacuate from about 60 homes in the town of Davenport in the Santa Cruz Mountains, 50 miles south of San Francisco, where more than six inches of rain fell on an area that burned in August.
Residents in the area of the massive Station Fire in Los Angeles County were on guard. The wildfire burned into the backyards of foothill homes in September, and stripped the steep mountains of vegetation that holds the soil to the slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning early Wednesday for a burn area in Santa Barbara County.
Heavy rainfall was expected to cause flash flooding and debris flows in a part of the county scorched by recent wildfire, according to the weather service. The warning was to remain in effect until 3 a.m. Wednesday.
The U.S. Geological Survey recently warned residents that even small storms could unleash massive flows of debris-laden water into communities.
"My neighbor — she's lived here for a long while — says the mud comes down the street, takes a right into our driveway and goes right through our front door," said high school teacher Jim Smiley, who brought his two sons to stock up on sandbags filled by cheerful volunteers at a La Crescenta park.
County public works crews towed heavy concrete barriers into place along steep and winding streets and residents barricaded their driveways with plywood dams propped up with sandbags and rocks.
The storm slammed into a drought-stricken state that has become a checkerboard of wildfire scars. Flash flood watches were posted for burn areas dating back to early 2008.
Dorothy Kruegermann, 44, of La Crescenta, said geologists warned her and her neighbors that roads could wash out and strand them. While her 7-year-old son twirled a big blue and white umbrella in the driveway Tuesday, she said she planned to spend the night with her in-laws.
"The funny thing is we just had a block party on Saturday to celebrate together the fact that we survived the fire," she said.
It was the same scene in Santa Barbara, where a May wildfire destroyed many homes.
"It is obvious to me there are going to be some slides," said resident Richard Payatt, 46. "It's part of living in Santa Barbara with these beautiful hills. Occasionally you get fires, and then you get slides."
High winds knocked out power to more than a-quarter million residents throughout the state.

SoCal storm menaces neighborhoods near burn areas

By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON, Associated Press Writer Raquel Maria Dillon, Associated Press Writer – 4 mins ago:

LOS ANGELES – A powerful fall storm packing strong winds and rain drenched fire-scarred hillsides around California on Wednesday, and residents from north to south braced for possible mudslides and debris flows.
The storm prompted evacuation warnings earlier Tuesday near Santa Cruz and disrupted power across the state.
Officials urged residents to evacuate from about 60 homes in the town of Davenport in the Santa Cruz Mountains, 50 miles south of San Francisco, where more than six inches of rain fell on an area that burned in August.
Residents in the area of the massive Station Fire in Los Angeles County were on guard. The wildfire burned into the backyards of foothill homes in September, and stripped the steep mountains of vegetation that holds the soil to the slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning early Wednesday for a burn area in Santa Barbara County.
Heavy rainfall was expected to cause flash flooding and debris flows in a part of the county scorched by recent wildfire, according to the weather service. The warning was to remain in effect until 3 a.m. Wednesday.
The U.S. Geological Survey recently warned residents that even small storms could unleash massive flows of debris-laden water into communities.
"My neighbor — she's lived here for a long while — says the mud comes down the street, takes a right into our driveway and goes right through our front door," said high school teacher Jim Smiley, who brought his two sons to stock up on sandbags filled by cheerful volunteers at a La Crescenta park.
County public works crews towed heavy concrete barriers into place along steep and winding streets and residents barricaded their driveways with plywood dams propped up with sandbags and rocks.
The storm slammed into a drought-stricken state that has become a checkerboard of wildfire scars. Flash flood watches were posted for burn areas dating back to early 2008.
Dorothy Kruegermann, 44, of La Crescenta, said geologists warned her and her neighbors that roads could wash out and strand them. While her 7-year-old son twirled a big blue and white umbrella in the driveway Tuesday, she said she planned to spend the night with her in-laws.
"The funny thing is we just had a block party on Saturday to celebrate together the fact that we survived the fire," she said.
It was the same scene in Santa Barbara, where a May wildfire destroyed many homes.
"It is obvious to me there are going to be some slides," said resident Richard Payatt, 46. "It's part of living in Santa Barbara with these beautiful hills. Occasionally you get fires, and then you get slides."
High winds knocked out power to more than a-quarter million residents throughout the state.