Storm Takes Unexpected Turn; Traffic Trouble, Fatality Result

A storm front that turned south unexpectedly brought Southern California its first significant rain of the season Wednesday, triggering a rash of traffic accidents that resulted in at least one death.

The fatality occurred in a chain collision involving a bus and 10 other vehicles in the Newhall area.

In Orange County, police and California Highway Patrol officers reported scores of weather-related accidents. Some resulted in minor injuries, but most were non-injury fender-benders.

“And one thing I can tell you: Nobody was exempt,” said CHP Officer Mike Lundquist. “A patrol car was hit during the rain, and one of our officers had minor injuries. Nobody is safe during a rain. We want to warn everyone to drive very carefully as the rain continues, and we’re urging drivers to turn on their headlights during rain periods.”

Rainfall Heavier in L.A.

The second day of autumn produced rain most of the day throughout Orange County. By 3 p.m. Wednesday, amounts varied from 0.2 of an inch in Costa Mesa to 0.75 of an inch on Santiago Mountain. The moisture lessens brushfire dangers somewhat but by no means ends the official “fire season” in the county, according to the Orange County Fire Department.

In Los Angeles, the rainfall in the downtown area was heavier than anywhere in Orange County. The Weather Service said 0.91 of an inch of rain fell at the Los Angeles Civic Center by late Wednesday afternoon.

The rain also brought cool weather. The high temperature at the Los Angeles Civic Center was only 61, tying the record set in 1908 for the city’s lowest maximum reading on a Sept. 24.

The rain forced postponements of baseball games scheduled at Dodger Stadium and Anaheim Stadium. The Angels’ game against the Cleveland Indians was rescheduled for 7:35 tonight. The last rain-out at Anaheim Stadium was April 28, 1983.

The game between the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres was rescheduled as part of a double header beginning at 4:35 p.m. today. It was the first Dodger Stadium rain-out since Aug. 18, 1983.

The rain Wednesday had not been expected. The U.S. Weather Service had predicted that the precipitation that began Tuesday night in Southern California would end before Wednesday morning.

But the storm didn’t follow the predicted script and moved south rather than east. Instead of a clearing sky Wednesday morning, Orange County commuters found rain starting all over again.

There may be more showers this morning. In a cautiously worded forecast for today, the Weather Service said: “Slight chance of mainly morning showers Thursday. Fair Thursday night. Mostly sunny and warmer Friday.”

In the Newhall area Wednesday, eight people were injured--one of them fatally--in a series of early afternoon accidents involving a Greyhound bus and 10 other vehicles on a slick Golden State Freeway downgrade near Calgrove Boulevard at Valencia.

CHP spokesman Harry Ingold said the five separate collisions began with a pickup truck that spun out. The freeway was closed for nearly half an hour, backing traffic up for miles.

All the victims were taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital where, a spokeswoman said, one person was dead on arrival, one remained in serious condition and six were expected to be released after treatment.

In Orange County, the storm caused no major flooding problem Tuesday or Wednesday.

Ground Soaking Up Rain

“We’ve had a couple of situations where storm drains were clogged with leaves, but nothing major,” said Robert Meeks, chief of planning and scheduling for the Orange County Environmental Management Agency.

Meeks said the first rain of autumn can cause problems, “but it depends on how it falls. . . . This rain has been light and gradual, and the ground has had time to soak it up.”

He added, “The ground, after summer, absorbs the rain for about 12 hours unless the rain is a very heavy one. This one has been light enough for the ground to absorb it, and there’s been no runoff problems.”

But while no flooding problems existed, Orange County had the usual headaches caused by drivers skidding on slick streets and freeways.

“We’ve had traffic accidents all day,” said Lt. Larry Hodges of the Garden Grove Police Department. “Most of them just fender-benders.”

Lundquist of the CHP said that while there were no freeway fatalities in Orange County as a result of the first rainfall of the season, there were at least 50 weather-related accidents on freeways and other areas of CHP jurisdiction in the county.

The accident involving a CHP officer was at noon on the Garden Grove Freeway just west of the Main Street on-ramp in Santa Ana, Lundquist said. He said CHP Officer Mark Glidden’s patrol car was parked on the freeway median as he investigated a previous accident.

Crash Involves 5 Cars

A driver coming onto the freeway from the Main Street on-ramp began skidding on the wet pavement and plowed into other cars, Lundquist said. In a chain reaction, five cars crunched into each other, and one of the vehicles was the parked CHP patrol car.

Lundquist said Glidden was one of four persons who suffered minor injuries in the collision. He was treated and released at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Lundquist said.

There were two fatal accidents on Orange County streets during the Tuesday night rainfall, but police said neither was attributable to the weather. In Westminster, a 45-year-old Stanton man was killed as he tried to cross Beach Boulevard about 7:30 p.m. in an area not marked as a crosswalk. In Garden Grove, a 33-year-old woman riding a motorcycle with her husband was killed when the cycle collided with a car at 8:30 p.m. on Harbor Boulevard.

Rainfall varied widely in the county. Emmett Franklin, supervising hydrographer for the county environmental agency, said Wednesday that the San Clemente-San Juan Capistrano area in south Orange County received more rain than other populated regions of the county. The San Juan Capistrano area recorded 0.43 of an inch on Tuesday, and by mid-afternoon Wednesday had logged another 0.16 of an inch, he said.

Fire Season Not Over

By contrast, Costa Mesa officially recorded no rain Tuesday night, although a trace fell in some areas, and by Wednesday afternoon had recorded only 0.2 of an inch, Franklin said.

Brea, in north Orange County, also recorded no rain Tuesday night but had 0.43 of an inch by Wednesday afternoon, Franklin said.

The rainfall gave some welcome moisture to tinder-dry brush in Orange County, but it did not signal the end of the fire season, according to Kathleen Cha, public information officer for the Orange County Fire Department.

“A lot of variables are involved in the fire seasons,” Cha said Wednesday. “Fuel moisture, or the amount of moisture in the shrubs, is one factor. The rain (on Tuesday and Wednesday) helps, but there is still not enough moisture to end the fire season. Plus, we have the Santa Ana winds that come in October.

“So it will be in November sometime that we’ll probably declare the fire season over; that’s when it usually happens. One rainfall doesn’t end the season.”