A driving rain hit parts of San Pedro on Tuesday, flooding out streets and homes where police officers had to pull people to safety.

Tuesday's rainstorm left 5th Street near Pacific Ave. flooded during the peak of the downpour. (Photo: Robert Casillas)

The harbor community was especially hard-hit on the second day of torrential rains to surge through the South Bay.

"It was scary," said Los Angeles Police Sgt. Jeff Hamilton who helped pull residents to safety from homes and cars in a flooded neighborhood at Grand Avenue and Fourth Street.

"When we arrived we got into the water and it was literally up to our necks."

Sixteen people were evacuated from the homes and taken to Anderson Memorial Recreation Center several blocks away to await Red Cross workers.

Flooded cars parked or abandoned in the neighborhood were later towed away.

"The water was swirling into these manhole covers so there was a strong current," Hamilton said.

Several streets throughout the town were closed due to flooding, including sections of Harbor Boulevard and Pacific Avenue.

"We had two feet of water outside that was crashing into our door," said Caroline Brady-Sinco, director of development at Harbor Interfaith Shelter in the 600 block of West Ninth Street. "We were piling anything we could find against the doors to try to keep it out."

The epicenter of the flooding was Fifth Street and Pacific Avenue near downtown, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey. Water depths reached "a few feet" in the worst-hit areas.

"We guided people to safety," he said. "We did that with scores of local residents. Many of the people placed themselves in harm's way when they drove around barricades or drove into standing water."

Firemen and police check on residents along the 500 block of 4th Street as water flows from the front door of a home. (Photo: Robert Casillas)

The fire department set up a command post in the worst hit area and the Los Angeles Police department cordoned off the area. Inches of water ran through some businesses and one fire station, Humphrey said.

Water came pouring into the banquet room of Ante's Restaurant during the mid-day deluge, said owner Tony Perkov.

"We got flooded, it was pretty substantial," he said. "But we have a crew here and we're open for business."

Lily Valdez, who lives on higher

Salvador Hernandez cleans up after heavy rains flooded his home in 300 block of Grand Ave. The water line shows depth of water that flooded dozens of homes. (Robert Casillas/Staff Photographer)ground at Alma and 22nd streets, came home from work to find her backyard flooded - and her two Chihuahua dogs staying above the waterline with the help of their overstuffed dog beds. "We were getting flooded at work so I told my boss I was going to leave early," said Valdez, who works in the office at Neptune Electronics on Pacific Avenue. "I got home and checked on the puppies in the backyard. The water was flooded up to the first step, it scared the heck out of me."

A friend came over and was able to pump and vacuum much of the water out, she said. The dogs were unharmed.

Many of the town's streets remained covered with water or mud after the rain stopped. A police K9 facility and the community's dog park next

Heavy rains left areas of San Pedro in waist-high water. The most damaged area was at the intersection of 4th Street and Grand Avenue. A man walks passes a flooded car on 5th Street. (Robert Casillas/Staff Photographer)to it were flooded. A port railroad line running around the low-lying park area near the Vincent Thomas Bridge onramp also was underwater hours after the rain burst was over.

"At Third and Pacific it was like a river," Valdez said.

But it was at Fourth and Grand where the worst flooding occurred.

Water lines reached three to four feet on the exterior of dozens of homes in the area, one eyewitness told the Daily Breeze.

Some residents kayaked through the flood waters, waving a hovering television news helicopters.

Hamilton said police received a distress call at about 12:40 p.m. and found people trapped in their cars and homes.

Heavy rains left areas of San Pedro in waist-high water. The most damaged area was at the intersection of 4th Street and Grand Avenue. A man walks passes a flooded car on 5th Street. (Photo: Robert Casillas)

"Citizens were screaming for help," he said. "The furniture in some of these homes was preventing people from opening their doors, so we pulled them out of windows. We put them on our backs and carried them to safety."

Hamilton said about a dozen officers pulled or guided between 20 and 25 civilians out to safety.

"It was like a huge flash flood and the drainage system just couldn't handle it."

Tony Mandac, a resident on Third Street near Grand, said he'd never seen anything like it in the 70 years he's lived in the neighborhood.

The water reached his front porch and flowed into his garage. He used a pump and hose to get the water out of his front yard and driveway.

"All the cars out here, they were full of water, everything," he said as he swept debris from out of the storm drain in front of his house after the rain ended.

He said he was heading out in search of sandbags to prepare for the next storms expected later this week.

Brady-Sinco said finding sand to fill sandbags proved impossible during the emergency downpour and flooding on Tuesday.

"I went down to Fire Station 112 (at the Port of Los Angeles) and they were standing in water," she said of the station that also was flooded. "They threw me some (empty) sandbags."

Informed that she could get sand to fill them at either Banning or Peck parks, she called those facilities only to be told they had no sand.

"It was really scary, it was like a total river flowing (in the streets), it looked like a lake," she said.

"They didn't have sand anywhere, the city was not prepared. So I went over to Tru Value hardware and bought every bag of potting soil I could find to pile up against our doors."

Hamilton said officers in the aftermath were working through the night on strategies to make sure responders would be ready over the next few days when more storms are expected to hit the area.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn said she would demand answers at today's City Council meeting.

"I want to know why it happened," she said. "Did our storm drains fail? How can we make sure it doesn't happen again?"