Storm Brewing, But Expected to Miss County

San Diegans still cleaning up from Friday night’s storm, should get a break today as an expected storm will not materialize, forecasters said Saturday.

Flooding from Friday’s downpour, which dropped up to 1.50 inches, was blamed for two sewage spills and forced the cancellation of a police road sobriety checkpoint. The storm, with winds gusting to 40 m.p.h., downed tree limbs, flooded intersections, cut power to between 40,000 and 50,000 San Diego Gas and Electric Co. customers and was blamed for numerous traffic accidents.

The sewage spills occurred in Mission Bay and Old Town, San Diego County Health Department spokesman Tom Gallagher said.

About 18,000 gallons of raw sewage poured into the De Anza Cove area of Mission Bay, after several manholes overflowed, Gallagher said.

Warning Signs Posted

Warning signs were posted along the beach about 150 yards in both directions, until tests can prove water qualities have reached a safe level, he said.

Another spill of about 12,000 gallons of raw sewage seeped into the San Diego River as debris blocked a line at the corner of Twiggs Street and Congress Street in Old Town Saturday morning, he said.

The spill was repaired by noon Saturday, Gallagher said.

The sobriety checkpoint in a beach area was called off about 10 minutes after it was scheduled to begin Friday night because of flooded intersections and many traffic accidents, police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

Drain Function Impaired

“When you get this hard rapid downpour, street drains can’t function properly so streets flood up with water washing up over the curbs,” he said.

Robinson refused to disclose the location of the checkpoint.

Over a half-inch of rain fell in most areas in the county over a three hour span starting at 8 p.m., with Del Mar getting hit the worst, receiving about 1.50 inches, he said.

Lindbergh Field recorded about 0.84 inch of rain; Vista 0.65; Oceanside 0.50; El Cajon 0.72; La Mesa 0.89; and Chula Vista 0.32 inch.

The heavy downpour caused flooding throughout the county, according to Sheriff’s Communications Center spokesman Bob Woodhouse.

Tree limbs blown into or caught in power lines seemed to cause the most problems for North County residents, who suffered about two-thirds of the County’s total outages Friday, SDG&E; spokesman Fred Vaughn said.

“We had a total of 29 outages in North County alone, but we got calls as far out as Santee, Spring Valley Golden Hills,” he said.

High pressure building over Southern California is providing San Diego with convenient blockade, National Weather Service forecaster Harvey Hastrup said.

“We were only expecting light showers later tonight, perhaps Monday, though it looks like we won’t get any at all,” he said.

“The most we’ll see of this storm is increasing clouds later this afternoon,” Hastrup said.

Coastal highs today and Monday will range from 62 to 68 degrees, with lows of 50 to 55, according to forecaster Dan Bowman of WeatherData, which provides forecasts for The Times.

Ocean temperature is expected to be 63 degrees with three to six-foot waves today expected to increase slightly Monday.

“Waters are still too rough to be considered safe for swimmers,” Bowman said.

Inland valleys will have highs from 65 to 72 today and Monday with lows from 42 to 50 both days.

Mountain highs will be 48 to 55 today, decreasing slightly Monday, with lows from 25 to 35 both days.

Desert highs will be between from 65 to 75 today and Monday, with lows both days from 42 to 50.