Heavy rains began falling in the Los Angeles area on Sunday breaking the 1943 Downtown LA record of 1.48 inches of rainfall with 2.42 inches for March 20. The severe rain continued through the night issuing flash flood warnings throughout the western Los Angeles County. The severe rainfall caused rockslides and road collapses along Pacific Coast Highway closing much of the westbound roadway Sunday night and early Monday morning.
The immense rainfall mixed with debris was especially bad news for Duke’s Restaurant at Las Flores Canyon. Sunday night about 70 patrons were evacuated from the restaurant after spotting muddy water entering the bar from the parking lot. Duke’s employees also reported seeing a “wall of water and mud coming down Las Flores” straight for the restaurant according to the Malibu Times. Firefighters helped drain the water into the ocean by cutting into the walls and floor of the building. Duke’s is currently working with the insurance company over what is predicted to be millions of dollars worth of damage repairs. Despite these setbacks employee Gabby Nunez predicted the restaurant to reopen “sometime next week.”
At the same time on Sunday night six people were rescued from their inundated cars on Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Firefighters caught the drivers just in time facing flooding water as high as the windows and windshield and no injuries were reported.
Having now cleared a car-sized boulder from Malibu Canyon Road layers of mud from the highways and many fallen trees in the Malibu area the city’s roadways have returned to their normal condition.