LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. (October 14, 2009)--The rain eased Wednesday in Southern California, with no sign of the heavy mudslides that had been feared in areas left barren by summer wildfires, but forecasters are warning residents to be prepared for additional rain that could bring floods.

The overnight rain made the morning commute a mess, with jackknifed trucks and other vehicles littering freeways.

Pools as deep as hubcaps, caused by overwhelmed storm drains, kept travel lanes impassable.

The National Weather Service canceled its flash flood advisory for Los Angeles County shortly before dawn, as the rains that drenched the region overnight began easing up.

The storm, packing powerful winds, prompted evacuation warnings 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 also on guard.

The wildfire burned into the backyards of foothill homes in September.

It stripped the steep mountains of vegetation that holds the soil to the slopes of the San Gabriel
Mountains.