Afghanistan: California soaked but little drought help, damage --- AZUSA, Calif. — A storm that brought some of the highest rainfall totals to the Los Angeles area in years, including eight inches on some mountains, was just the beginning of what the region needs to pull out of a major drought. -- Although the storm was expected to remain strong Saturday, forecasters said such systems would have to become common for the state to make serious inroads against the drought. -- “We need several large storms and we just don’t see that on the horizon,” National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Boldt said Friday. “This is a rogue storm. We will dry out next week.” -- Forecasters expected the storm to last through Saturday in California before trundling east into similarly rain-starved neighboring states. Phoenix was expecting its first noticeable precipitation in two months. The storm was projected to head east across the Rockies before petering out in the Northeast in several days. -- Southern California has so far been spared major damage from the powerful Pacific storm, but forecasters warn that intense rain will occur even as it begins to move east. --- The National Weather Service says the center of the system located off the coast will move across Southern California to exit the region, but bands of intense rain will still occur.