Monster storm brings out potholes on SoCal streets

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The series of storms leading up to Friday's huge rainfall didn't only flood streets throughout Southern California, but left multiple cars damaged from slamming into potholes.

That has brought booming business to auto repair shops.

Andreh Mansouri, manager of Fantastic Tire in Van Nuys, has seen plenty of customers coming in with damage to their wheels and suspensions from potholes, many of them even before last week's massive storm.

"If the wheel gets damaged that means the suspension," Mansouri said. "You need to repair, you need to completely redo your whole suspension. Price-wise it matters. We have $50 repairs, all the way to $500 repairs."

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the city remains committed to fixing reported potholes within three days, even when heavy rain leaves the streets riddled with damage.

"This was a monster storm," Garcetti said. "We've cut the pothole repair time in half since I've been mayor and the good thing is even during the storm it's the same repair time - three days."

"So call 311. We've got over 1,000 requests in a single day, on the peak day of the storm. We have extra crews out there."

In addition to the potholes, Los Angeles city officials say since Friday's storm they've responded to more than three dozen land and mud slides in the San Fernando Valley, and nearly 1,000 damaged trees.