LOS ANGELES -- The toll from the storm pounding Southern California grew Monday with the discovery of the body of a 2-year-old girl who slipped from her mother's grasp as firefighters were trying to rescue them from a raging wash. At least two people were killed in a mudslide in Ventura County.

A total of 12 deaths have been linked to a series of storms that have unleashed flash floods and mudslides, forced evacuations and closed roads and schools.

A huge mudslide crashed down on La Conchita in Ventura County, killing at least three people, injuring 10 and leaving as many as 12 missing as Southern California's saturated terrain began to give way under the onslaught of drenching storms that have sent rainfall totals to astonishing levels.

A trailer home in Santa Clarita collapsed Monday into the fast-moving Santa Clara River, which washed away the ground beneath it. The home had been evacuated earlier, and no one was hurt.

The wet weather began late last week and wasn't expected to let up until Wednesday, with isolated thunderstorms bringing as much as 6 inches of rain through today and an additional 2 feet of snow at elevations above 7,500 feet.

About 2.6 inches of rain fell Sunday in downtown Los Angeles, a new record for Jan. 9, according to the National Weather Service.

Rainfall way above average

The average amount of winter rainfall in downtown Los Angeles is 15 inches. The total already this season was nearly 22 inches by Monday evening.

"The season is only half over with, and we're already well ahead of the curve," said Bruce Rockwell, a Weather Service meteorologist. "It's just a huge storm; it's affecting the entire state."

Since Friday alone, downtown Los Angeles has received 5.16 inches.

Dramatic rescues were the order of the weekend.

A group of homeless people was plucked by a helicopter from the surging Ventura River on Sunday after they tried to cross it to reach a shelter. A man -- his pants ripped off by the current -- was pulled from raging waters in Cerritos by a safety rope after being swept two miles down river.

A man and two children were pulled alive from the mud after a Studio City hillside collapsed, destroying a big home.

In Palmdale, rescue workers found the 2-year-old girl, her two siblings and their mother stranded on top of their car, floating down a fast-moving wash.

The rescue team was using a helicopter to hoist the mother to safety when she lost her grip on her daughter, who then fell into the wash. The mother and other children were rescued along with an unidentified man; the girl's body was found downstream three hours later. The girl was identified Monday as Jamaia B. Davis of Palmdale.

Sheriff's Lt. Don Ford said the mother may have driven around barricades to access a flooded road intersecting the wash. The case was referred to homicide detectives, he said.

Swift-water rescue crews remained busy across Southern California on Monday, including the same Palmdale location where rescuers pulled four people from a stranded vehicle that also went around barriers, Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Mike McCormick said. Crews also rescued a bus driver and two students who became stuck on their bus Monday afternoon in 2 feet of mud and water in the Castaic area north of Los Angeles.

A man died when his vehicle plunged from a coastal highway into the surf off Malibu on Sunday.

Pipeline washouts forced the precautionary shutdown of systems that carry gasoline, jet fuel and diesel from Los Angeles refineries to Colton and Phoenix, and transport refined petroleum products from Colton to Las Vegas, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners said. No market supply problems were anticipated, the company said.

A sinkhole reported Sunday on Union Pacific tracks near Gaviota in Santa Barbara County and rockslides to the south forced Amtrak to suspend Pacific Surfliner service north of Los Angeles and to originate Coast Starlight runs at San Luis Obispo.

State of emergency in Glendale

Glendale declared a local state of emergency Monday because of mudslides and road closures. Six structures were damaged enough to be red-tagged, and flood-control debris basins were at capacity, the city said. A local college was closed so crews could shore up a hillside.

Evacuations were also urged for residents of 11 homes in Monterey Park.

In Los Angeles, canyon communities in the Hollywood Hills kept a wary eye on soaked hills.

Joanne Small stayed home from work to "keep an eye on things" the day after a mansion across Laurel Canyon was destroyed by a landslide. A man and two children were saved from the mud there.

"It sounded like a sonic boom that lasted 30 seconds," Small said.

In Coldwater Canyon, Gary Mehlman and his wife, Karen, waited anxiously as crews cleared a slide that fell near their home Saturday. Despite the worry, they tried to keep their trouble in perspective.

"With all the stuff that's going on in the world with the tsunami, this really is only a wrinkle," Gary Mehlman said.

Classes were canceled at Pepperdine University, which sits below the slopes of the Santa Monica Mountains in Malibu.

At least 720 crashes were reported Sunday on mud- and rain-clogged roads, more than three times the number of accidents during the previous Sunday when streets were dry, the California Highway Patrol said.

100 major highways, streets closed

Rockslides, mudslides and flooding forced the complete or partial closure of at least 100 major highways and surface streets in greater Los Angeles. Flooding on Interstate 405 slowed northbound traffic during the morning commute. The closure of canyon roads north and west of Los Angeles diverted traffic onto Interstate 5, creating especially sluggish traffic conditions for commuters.

Traffic was stopped in both directions on coastal U.S. 101 near La Conchita.

About 60 homes in the remote mountain town of Forest Falls in San Bernardino County were evacuated after a local stream backed up.

The heavy rainfall was attributed to a sluggish, low-pressure system off the coast drawing a stream of moisture from the subtropical Pacific known as a "Pineapple Express." Another band from the plodding system was expected to hit California by today and then head east.

School districts around the region were closed Monday.