Coachella Valley News May 7 Gradual Clearing Forecast Rainfall in Coachella Valley reached record proportions for May yesterday and last night. Measurement for 24 hours taken at 7 this morning was .34 inch at Coachella and .41 inch at the U. S. Date Field Station on Clinton. Previous 24- hour high for both stations was .26 inch. Recording at the De- partment of Forestry Station on Arabia was .35 inch. Rainfall readings for all Val- ley stations are: For For Day Storm Indio, Forestry .35 .35* Indio, Date Stn. .41 .41* Palm Desert .49 .54 Mecca .20 .24 North Shore .16 .19 Oasis .20 .25 La Quinta .37 .37* Bermuda Dunes .51 .52 1000 Palms .57 .57 Thermal .25 .27 Coachella .30 .34 *Trace only recorded yester- day morning. The storm is expected to di- minish during the day with gradual clearing overnight. Some areas of the valley have received more rainfall during the past 48 hours than they did in January when there was widespread damage to roads and bridges. There has been no major damage reported in the current storm, but Indian Avenue and Vista Chino in Palm Springs were barricaded at the storm channel crossing early this morning. A small stream of water in the channel had reached Ramon Road this morning, but it was (Continued on Page 4) Valley (Continued From Page 1) expected to be absorbed before reaching Country Club Road. Water crossing Vista Chino was estimated at 10 cubic feet per second this morning. This compares with 25-30,000 cubic feet per second during the Janu- ary rains. Only damage attributed to the rain was fires on two Imperial Irrigation District power poles, one at Washington near Avenue 44 and another in Mecca on Colfax near Hammond Road. State Forestry rangers believe water caused arcs across insu- lators igniting the poles. Dam- age was minor in both cases. January flooding was caused mostly by water running off the mountains and during the current storm there is little precipitation reported in the mountains. The storm did bring about 13 inches of new snow to the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway where a high tem- perature of 34 degrees was re- corded yesterday. Low this morning was 24 degrees. No damage to Coachella Val- ley farm crops has been re- ported. Lower temperatures ac- companying the rains are ex- pected to delay harvest of Per- lette grapes by a few days. The unusual storm covered most of Southern California and the Southwest United States and is now moving eastward. Heavy thunderstorms are re- ported from the southern plains regions of West Texas and eastern New Mexico. Clovis, N. M. received 1.31 inches of rain in six hours. Lesser activity was reported from the central and southern states from the Gulf Coast to the Midwest. There was snow in the Central Rockies. Some continuing rainfall is expected in Southern California mountains today.