Storms and floods kill 13 in Tijuana

Three teenage girls were killed after fast-flowing mud swallowed their family's car at the foot of the eastern town of Mexico Lindo, or Beautiful Mexico. Swirling floodwaters dragged a girl from her house to her death.

Some 500 people took refuge at shelters because their neighborhoods were buried in mud, water and debris.

North of the border, Californians took advantage of a break from the storms that have battered the West Coast for a week. They cleared roads, cleaned catch basins and drains and rebuilt sandbag barricades. Sunshine bathed Southern California, which saw up to 2 feet of rain in some areas.

Forecasters said the next storm was expected to blow ashore farther north last night, with the brunt of the bad weather hitting Oregon and Washington state.

But California was still far from drying up. Seven-foot waves coupled with a 6-foot-high tide pounded San Clemente beach homes and ate away 100 feet of sand at Broad Beach. The nearby beach retreats of Steven Spielberg, Danny DeVito, Frank Sinatra, Goldie Hawn, Jack Lemmon and Dustin Hoffman weren't threatened, but one Malibu home was destroyed and four others were seriously damaged.

In San Clemente yesterday, resident Greg Rhys piled sandbags only to see the sea carry them away.

"There's nothing you can do. I've given up on the front of my house," neighbor Al Lundberger said as still another huge wave crashed against his beach house.

In Northern California, the waters of the state's largest natural lake crept higher and threatened homes along the shore of Clear Lake. Five hundred families were forced to flee their residences.

"If the lake goes up, most homes would suffer severe damage," said Wilda Shock, a spokesperson for Lake County's Office of Emergency Services.

Across Northern California, residents hauled sandbags to weakened levees, swept floors clean of mud and braced for more rain. Seven deaths have been blamed on the storms and more than 1,400 houses and buildings have been damaged or destroyed.

Near Tijuana, 600 soldiers helped two Baja California cities that were hammered by heavy rain over the weekend.

"We are not in chaos. We can work very well with the disaster," said Guillermo Ruiz de Teresa, national coordinator for civil protection.

More than two inches of rain during a six-hour period ending Sunday sent runoff waters through Tijuana and sections of Rosarito, overturning cars, tearing down walls and dumping mud, rocks, cars and debris into homes and businesses.

The most serious damage was to newer, poorer neighborhoods in outlying sections of Tijuana. At least two areas were inaccessible until yesterday and residents depended on helicopters to get food and medical help.

In Aguaje de la Tuna, Alejandra Campos scrambled onto the roof of her mother's home with two young nephews.

"The current was rising until it was starting to crush cars. The waters did not calm themselves until about 5 in the morning," she told The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Rosarito police arrested 15 people for looting.

It was the area's worst storm-related death toll in five years. More than 30 people were reported killed during several weeks of torrential rains between late January and early February 1993.

02-10-98