LOS ANGELES (AP) - A record-breaking amount of rain battered Southern California on Monday, flooding roadways and causing hundreds of accidents, including a crash that killed two people. The downpour also triggered a daring helicopter rescue of two boys from a rain-swollen flood-control channel. The storm measured 1.24 inches in downtown Los Angeles by Monday evening, breaking the record of .9 inches for the date set in 1903. In Pasadena, 1.68 inches fell, four times the record of .4 inches set in 1990. Similar records were broken throughout the area, said Gary Ryan, a technician with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Some areas saw more than two inches of rain. The rain, which began falling after 8 a.m., caught many people by surprise. It caused hundreds of highway collisions when people tried to return in the evening, including one involving 25 cars.