Late spring storm

Holly Vega, left, and her daughter Natalie, 13, shake snow from tree branches in the Pacific Crest neighborhood of Wrightwood.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

At the start of Memorial Day weekend, snow plows are out on Lone Pine Canyon Road in Wrightwood.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Memorial Day get-away traffic contends with cold drizzle on Interstate 5 just south of Gorman.  (Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times)

Mechanical foreman John Salvini walks alongside rail cars that overturned when a tornado touched down in Moreno Valley in Riverside County, flipping a big rig and closing the 215 Freeway.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Overturned rail cars the show the fury of a tornado that touched down along the 215 Freeway in Moreno Valley  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Firefighter Vickie Scheibel hugs Modjeska Canyon resident Paula LaBar, whose home was overrun by a mudslide. The storm was much wilder than expected, and many fire-damaged Orange County hillsides couldn’t withstand the heavy rainfall.  (Karen Tapia-Andersen / Los Angeles Times)

Sandbags provide a little protection for a car as mud flows down Modjeska Canyon Road in Orange County.  (Karen Tapia-Andersen/Los Angeles Times)

Modjeska Canyon resident Paula LaBar, whose home was overrun by a mudslide from a late spring storm, surveys the aftermath.  (Karen Tapia-Andersen/Los Angeles Times)

A worker mops up at Cook’s Corner restaurant in Trabuco Canyon in Orange County. Customers were enjoying the rare show of May rain and lightning Thursday — until the water started seeping in. “It’s super bad,” said Rhonda Palmeri, manager of the diner at Santiago Canyon and Live Oak Canyon roads. “It’s all mud. The bar is all flooded out.”  (Karen Tapia-Andersen / Los Angeles Times)