Snow strands hundreds of vehicles north of Los Angeles

Heavy snow kept a mountain stretch of Interstate 5 closed Thursday, as several hundred vehicles were stranded south of Bakersfield to north of Santa Clarita, the California Highway Patrol said.
"It's going to be awhile," said California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Ehly. He said motorists who were free from the snow were spinning out on black ice along the 40 miles of closed expressway.
A Web site for The Mountain Enterprise, a newspaper in Gorman, quoted the patrol as reporting "a lot of collisions" on I-5 as a result of the weather. Snowplows were working Thursday to clear the highway, which was closed on Wednesday evening, the patrol said.
Tow trucks were rescuing stranded drivers and their vehicles from the nearby frozen interstate, according to an employee at the Flying J truck stop in Frazier Park.
The slow-moving storm prompted the National Weather Service to issue a winter storm warning for the mountain areas Thursday lasting until Friday. Travel through the area was "highly discouraged," the service said, warning of gusty winds and drifting snow that could reduce visibility to near zero.
Heavy rain played havoc in lower-lying areas of Southern California. Santa Barbara reported a record rainfall Wednesday -- 4.16 inches in 24 hours at Santa Barbara Airport, according to the National Weather Service -- smashing the old record of 2.5 inches set in 1943, the service said.
In Long Beach, rain forced 11 residents of an apartment building to find shelter elsewhere after a tarp on a roof under construction failed, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
Forecasters predicted more snow and rain Thursday around Los Angeles.