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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Sunshine again bathed much of the Southland Thursday, giving public works crews a chance to continue clear mudslides caused by this week's storms, but forecasters warned that more rain is due to arrive in the area as soon as Friday night.
Rain is expected to continue off and on into Tuesday, but the storms are not expected to pack the punch of this week's earlier downpours.
National Weather Service forecasters said the original outlook called for rain to reach the Los Angeles area sometime Saturday, but that was later updated, with the first rain potentially reaching western Los Angeles County Friday night and continuing into Saturday.
"The second part of this storm will roll through fairly quickly Saturday afternoon and night but will produce a steady period of moderate to heavy rain during this period," according to the NWS. "Once again, rain rates are expected to peak at around a half-inch per hour and again mainly in the south and southwest facing slopes."
Overall, rain totals through the weekend are expected to range from about an inch for most coastal and valley areas to around 3 inches for upslope areas.
Forecasters said they do not expect any "major impacts" from the rain, including in recent burn areas, saying this round of precipitation will likely result in "nuisance flooding" on area roads.
Snow levels should mostly remain above 6,000 feet, but the level could fall as low as 4,500 feet early Sunday, but with only minimal accumulations.
The area will get a brief respite from the rain on Sunday morning, but another system will push through the area late Sunday into Monday, possibly lingering into Tuesday. But the rest of the week should be dry, forecasters said.
Additional rain is bad news for crews that are still working to clean up after this week's storms. A number of highway closures were still in place Thursday due to mudslides or other damage, and a sinkhole that developed on a Calabasas roadway and swallowed two vehicles continued growing in size.
That sinkhole on Iverson Road was estimated on Wednesday to have grown to about 40 feet deep while spanning the entire roadway. But it continued growing in size on Thursday.
The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved $500,000 in emergency funding on Tuesday to expedite repairs of the sinkhole.
Another $450,000 was approved for storm repairs to Mulholland Drive between Summit Circle and Bowmont Drive.