Flooding Shuts Down 5 Freeway

LOS ANGELES, CA — Traffic was at a standstill on the 5 Freeway Wednesday morning in the San Fernando Valley due to flooding.

The flooding on the northbound freeway, between Penrose Street and Lankershim Boulevard, was reported just before 8 a.m.

All northbound lanes were closed for a period of time; the Sigalert was cleared by 9 a.m.

About 30 minutes later, a new Sigalert was issued for the same area because all lanes were closed again due to the flooding.

Traffic in the area was moving as slow as 2 mph.

Traffic was backed up several miles to Glenoaks Boulevard.

The 5 Freeway north of Los Angeles is under an updated flood watch put in place by the National Weather Service Wednesday morning. The watch is in effect until Friday at 4 p.m.

“Significant and widespread flooding caused by excessive rainfall will be likely, with potential debris flow impacts across recent burn scars," the NWS wrote.

Just north of the flooding, traffic remained impacted hours after an early morning crash on the northbound 5 Freeway just south of the 118 Freeway in Pacoima.

In that crash, which occurred at around 3:45 a.m., two FedEx big rigs collided and scattered packages across the interstate. One trailer was split open, KTLA reported.

All lanes were shut down after that crash. They remained closed as of 9:30 a.m., with traffic backed up for two miles to Van Nuys Boulevard.

See the latest updates at the Sigalert website