Rain Makes a Noisy Entrance : O.C. Storm Brings Up to .75 Inch

A lightning storm paraded into parched Orange County today, dumping nearly three-quarters of an inch of rain in places and announcing its arrival with cracks of thunder that boomed like a late New Year’s Eve celebration.

The first significant storm of the season accounted for a rash of traffic accidents, including an eight-car collision on the San Diego Freeway near Harbor Boulevard just before dawn. A rash of other fender-benders kept law enforcement officers busy.

California Highway Patrol spokesman Keith Thornhill said the Santa Ana office, which usually handles no more than three or four minor accidents at a time, suddenly faced more than double the usual workload this morning, sending officers scurrying.

“You just keep working,” Thornhill said. “You go from one to the next and go to the major ones first.”

Fortunately for the officers, he said, there were few major accidents. Some injuries were reported, however, in the eight-car pileup that occurred about 5:40 a.m. along the southbound San Diego Freeway. Officers were still taking information from motorists at local hospitals, however, and Thornhill had no details.

By the time the skies cleared briefly at mid-morning, the storm had pummeled Orange County with rainfall amounts ranging from 0.31 inches in Fullerton and Yorba Linda to 0.67 inches in Huntington Beach, according to readings from county flood control officials.

Other readings included 0.59 inches in Anaheim, 0.35 inches in Santa Ana and 0.63 inches in San Juan Capistrano. The Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro reported 0.43 inches.

County public works spokesman Pete Dalquist said the storm did not create any major problems for the county’s flood control systems.

It gave little hope for alleviation of the drought that has gripped Orange County for months. Tri-Cities Municipal Water District spokesman Tony Gomez said the overnight rainfall meant little more than that people will not have to water their lawns for a couple of days.

Showers were predicted through the rest of today before final clearing, according to WeatherData Inc., a private weather prediction service based in Wichita, Kan., that provides information to the Los Angeles Times.

“There’s some lingering stuff. It still has some stuff behind it,” said WeatherData meteorologist Steve Burback. The powerful storm moved quickly down the coast of California and was moving east into Arizona this morning, he added.