Driver Killed; Showers Snarl Holiday Traffic

Dreary skies dumped up to 1.8 inches of rain but no snow on county mountains Saturday and slowed holiday shoppers with heavy traffic, slippery streets, a rash of traffic accidents and one freeway fatality.

A 45-year-old La Mesa man was pronounced dead at the scene of a multiple-car accident, according to Deputy County Coroner Cal Vine. The victim was southbound on Interstate 5 south of Grand Avenue in Pacific Beach when he apparently lost control of his pickup truck, which went off the road, down an embankment and rolled over in the traffic lanes of Mission Bay Drive, pinning the driver inside.

The pickup then was struck by three other cars. A California Highway Patrol spokeswoman said that several drivers and passengers in the other vehicles involved in the accident received minor to moderate injuries.

Vine identified the victim as John Raymond Goebel and said the cause of the traffic accident was under investigation. An autopsy is scheduled.

Showers dumped sizable amounts of rainfall in northern San Diego County. In the 24-hour period up to 4 p.m. Saturday, Palomar Mountain reported 1.8 inches of rain; Fallbrook, .95 of an inch; Escondido, Julian and Montgomery Field on Clairemont Mesa, .72, and Vista, .71. Lindbergh Field recorded .42 of an inch during the same period, and most of the other reporting cities recorded about a half-inch of rain. Carlsbad police reported a number of fender-bending accidents during heavy showers that made streets slick and obscured visibility.

In Mission Valley, shopping crowds and the usual rainy-day road closures resulted in traffic snarls and long lines of automobiles waiting to exit Interstate 8 to reach shopping centers.

Minor rock and mud slides and local flooding were reported throughout the county, the CHP spokeswoman said.

The National Weather Service forecast called for clearing skies today and slightly higher temperatures. San Diego’s Saturday high temperature was 64.