Storm Doesn’t Measure Up to Its Torrential Billing

The storm that had promised to drop more than two inches of rain on Southern California pretty much left Orange County alone.

The weather front that was something less than the expected deluge moved eastward on Monday, leaving behind leaden skies, scattered showers and a half-hearted promise of a fair Thanksgiving.

Rainfall ranged from 1.26 inches at Cypress in the northern part of the county to .43 of an inch on the coast at Corona del Mar, according to William Reiter of the county Environmental Management Agency’s public works division.

“I’m surprised we didn’t get any more than we did, considering how much there was in Los Angeles and San Diego,” Reiter said Monday.

“We were very, very lucky. Not only didn’t we receive much rain, but there was also very little damage. The problems were limited to a few muddy streets and some plugged storm drains,” he said.

The absence of any major brush fires in the fall removed the threat of mud slides, Reiter said, adding: “We had 75% of our people back at their regular jobs by this afternoon.”

Reiter said his main concern was “that the ground is getting awfully wet for this early in the season. I think we can take quite a bit more rain. . . . It’s just that it’s quite early in the year to be getting a major rainfall.”

Several beaches along the coast were battered with 6-foot-high surf bred by the storm but, authorities said, no beachfront residences were threatened.

Other rainfall recorded in the county from the storm that hit Sunday and continued into the early hours of Monday included .63 of an inch in Santa Ana, .85 at Villa Park Dam and .91 at Santiago Peak in the Santa Ana Mountains.

The scattered showers, which had pretty much abated by daybreak, caused fewer morning rush-hour traffic accidents than are usual for a Monday without rain. California Highway Patrol officers said motorists probably were being more cautious.

A mail truck crashed into the center divider on the Orange Freeway south of Katella Avenue in Anaheim, tying up commuters for a time. The driver was not hurt.

Traffic also was slowed by runoff water on Pacific Coast Highway in the Las Flores Canyon area in Los Angeles County, scene of one of the recent brush fires, but the CHP said things were back to normal by 8:30 a.m.

Elsewhere in Southern California, except for some minor mud and rock slides in the Malibu area, there was none of the trouble that had been feared in the wake of the summer and autumn brush fires that denuded about 200,000 acres in the Southland.

Flash flood watches expired in extreme southeastern Santa Barbara County and all of Ventura County, scenes of some of the biggest of those blazes. More than three inches of rain was reported in parts of Ventura County, but no major problems developed.

A vigorous storm passing through the Imperial Beach area in San Diego County spawned a funnel cloud at mid-afternoon, but no damage was reported.

No more showers were foreseen for today by the National Weather Service, which said skies should be partly cloudy with temperatures in the mid- to upper 60s.

On Thanksgiving Day, forecasters said, temperatures should be in the high 60s for the coastal area, in the high 40s or lower 50s for the mountains and in the 50s and 60s in the deserts.

The storm brought only rain and slush to Southern California mountains. Ski lift operators were hoping for some snow above the 6,000-foot line overnight. Mountain motorists were being warned about heavy winds and dense fog tonight and Wednesday.

Things were better for skiers in Central and Northern California. The Automobile Club of Southern California reported that Boreal, Sugar Bowl, Alpine Meadows, Mt. Rose, Badger Pass and Sierra Ski Ranch all had from 11 to 20 inches of new snow. Mammoth had two to three feet of new snow, while Bear Valley had 32 inches.

The weather service said 3.41 inches of rain had fallen at Mt. Wilson by 5 p.m. Monday, while Torrance was getting 2.63 inches and Santa Monica 2 inches. Long Beach had 1.75 inch, Culver City 1.19, Monrovia 1.37, Montebello 1.43, Pasadena 1.29 and Santa Barbara 1.54.

As the storm moved on through Nevada, snow and slippery roads prompted travelers’ advisories in the northeastern part of that state.