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A series of winter storms bearing down on California could be the largest system the region has seen in the last decade, the National Weather Service said Saturday.

Southern California will be hit especially hard by the storms, and officials are preparing for flooding and posting mudflow warnings for burn areas in the San Gabriel Mountains and in Malibu.

"This is one big mother and it's going to have a lot of waves in it," said Bill Hoffer, a spokesman for the agency's forecast office in Oxnard.

The National Weather Service said a low pressure system off Oregon has created a band moisture that starts in Hawaii and points directly at Central California.

Meteorologist Jim Dudley said Friday that Central Valley will get 1 to 3 inches of rain by Monday with up to 15 inches of rain in the Sierra, which could prompt flooding in streams and rivers.

Northern California is expecting 5 inches of rain in places over the weekend, and officials in San Francisco are distributing sandbags to residents as they brace for possible flooding.

Southern California could see 2 to 4 inches along the coasts and valleys with triple that in the mountains.

There already have been reports of flooding across all lanes of the southbound Interstate 5 south of the Antelope Valley Freeway interchange in Southern California, according to California Highway Patrol. Residents who live in flood-prone roads in La Canada-Flintridge have been warned to move their cars off the road.

If you enjoy eating pork occasionally, you might not want to read any further. But you probably should -- especially as America waits to learn the fate of the almost universally hailed food-safety bill, which suddenly faces hurdles in Congress.

This week the Humane Society released the results of its undercover investigation of a Virginia pig farm that's owned by Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the world. A Humane Society investigator spent a month inside the Waverly, Va., facility, armed with a hidden camera. Among the more disturbing findings was this:

Female breeding pigs were crammed inside "gestation crates" so small the animals could barely move for virtually their entire lives. The animals engaged in stereotypic behaviors such as biting the bars of crates, indicating poor well-being in the extreme confinement conditions. Some had bitten their bars so incessantly that blood from their mouths coated the fronts of their crates. The breeding pigs also suffered injuries from sharp crate protrusions and open pressure sores that developed from their unyielding confinement.

Animal-rights advocates have long protested the use of gestation crates in farms. According to the Humane Society, Burger King, Wendy's, Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Chipotle, Quizno's, Sonic, Wolfgang Puck, Safeway and Whole Foods have all "reduced or eliminated their use of pork from pigs bred using gestation crates." In 2007, Smithfield -- after catching much heat over the practice -- announced that it was phasing out gestation crates but reversed course two years later, citing "significant operating losses."

Food-safety advocates are outraged over the investigation's findings. One of them -- New York Times food writer Mark Bittman -- appeared to call for a Smithfield boycott, in addition to taking a subtle jab at the popular TV cook who serves as the food giant's public face.

"I'm usually not one to cry 'boycott,' but if you, like Paula Deen, are a Smithfield supporter -- in fact, if you're still eating industrially raised pork (or chicken or beef or fish for that matter) -- get real," Bittman wrote. "Any industry (and Smithfield is hardly alone, though it does seem to be performing most egregiously) that operates with such infuriating disregard for the welfare of their animals deserves all the trouble we can muster."

The news that some of Bernard Madoff's victims could be getting half their money back was of little comfort to Richard and Cynthia Friedman, and others who saw their life savings erased in the mammoth fraud.

Just days earlier, the Long Island couple learned that Richard's 85-year-old mother was one of hundreds of longtime Madoff clients sued in recent weeks for millions by the trustee handling the case.

"He is going after innocent people," Cynthia Friedman said of the trustee, Irving Picard.

Picard's announcement Friday of a jaw-dropping $7.2 billion settlement from one of Madoff's richest investors left the Friedmans and other middle-income Madoff victims with mixed feelings.

Some fear that hedge funds will get the bulk of the cash being recovered, while others — especially those with modest incomes — worry that Picard will continue to sue them for what's left of their scarce savings.

The recent claim against Shirley Friedman, 85, offered a blunt, familiar argument: Yes, the family's investment had been wiped out. But over the many years Friedman had been a Madoff client, her annual withdrawals from his funds had exceeded the amount of her late husband's original investment.

As a result, according to Picard, she owed $3.6 million.

To the family, targeting an old lady with Alzheimer's disease, and others like her, seemed cruel.

"Many of these people are old, sick,and have been impoverished," said Richard Friedman. "Some of them are now terrified. They don't have money to pay an attorney."

After two years of trying to claw back false returns paid to big banks, hedge funds and money managers who never questioned the unbelievable profits they were earning from Madoff, Picard sent a wave of letters this month initiating legal action against a large group of smaller investors, including some who were wiped out in the scandal.

At a news conference Friday, Picard expressed sympathy for the victims he is suing and acknowledged that a large number of them were unaware of the Ponzi scheme. He said people with poor finances could enroll in a hardship program that might exempt them from having to make payments.

On Friday, the widow of Florida philanthropist Jeffry Picower agreed to return $7.2 billion her husband had received in profit over the decades from Madoff's fund.

Combined with other settlements and seizures, that brought the total amount of money available for victims to more than $10 billion, or about half of the money invested with the fraud king.

It isn't clear, however, just how many Madoff victims will ever see a dime of it.

Picard has so far authorized payments to fewer than 2,400 of the nearly 16,500 Madoff customers who filed a claim for a share of recovered money.

Many of those claims were denied because they were filed by people who had invested in Madoff indirectly, through a fund run by someone else. They could still wind up receiving a share, but it will be up to the fund managers to redistribute any money they are awarded.

"I don't quite get how we will ever see a penny," said Matt Weinstein. The motivational speaker, along with his wife, Geneen Roth, an author of best-selling books on compulsive eating, lost the bulk of their life savings in a Madoff feeder fund.

Peter Leveton, a Madoff victim who lives near Denver, said he worried that even if funds like the one he invested in do get paid, managers will use the money to cover their substantial legal fees and operating expenses.

"So, what trickles down is going to be a very small portion of what people invested," he said.

Other victims, like Shirley Friedman, were rejected because they had been living off interest generated by their Madoff accounts, and as a result had collected more money from the Ponzi scheme than they originally put in.

"There are thousands of victims that (Picard) is saying owe him money, and these are people who had no knowledge of the fraud," said Ronnie Sue Ambrosino, who leads a group of Madoff victims who have been fighting for restitution.

"I'm hoping that this $7 billion settlement will make him see the light and do the right thing and not pursue the other victims," she said.

At his Friday news conference, Picard stressed that the money he is seeking was all stolen from other Madoff victims, many of whom lost everything, too.

"We must recover those funds and restore them to their rightful owners," he said. "However, and I underscore the however, we recognize that many individuals are not in a financial position to return part or even all of their excess withdrawals and we are prepared, as we always have been, to work with them."

More than 200 people have entered the harship program so far, he said. Picard said he also preferred to settle, rather than fight, and had discretion not to seek money from people who couldn't afford to pay.

"We only know the problem these people have if they come forward and share the information with us, and then we can act," he said.

If Picard is successful in only the biggest of his clawback actions, the total amount of money recovered for Madoff victims could exceed what they actually invested.

In just one lawsuit, he has sought $19.6 billion from a collection of banks associated with a Madoff associate in Europe, who he accused of being part of a criminal and fraudulent scheme to recruit new investors his Ponzi scheme.