Rush-Hour Rainstorm Dents Cars, Not Drought

An April shower that dumped a third of an inch of rain on drought-stricken Los Angeles on Wednesday morning had freeways a-blooming in a vast profusion of pile-ups, fender-benders, spin-outs and SigAlerts. Color it brake-light red.

The good news is that fair, warm weather with daytime temperatures in the 70s is expected today and throughout the weekend, forecasters say.

The bad news is that the rainfall, while doubling the drive time for many commuters, represented a mere spritz compared to the torrents needed to break four years of drought conditions.

“This is peanuts--no, not even peanuts. It’s peanut shells,” said Jay Malinowski, a spokesman for the massive Metropolitan Water District, when asked to assess the shower’s impact on water needs. Winter snowfall in the Sierra is actually the most critical measure for the aqueduct-fed region.

“People don’t understand how much water it takes to break a drought. Any time we talk drought, drought, drought, and a little storm blows through, you don’t know how many calls we get from people wondering if the drought’s over.”

“This won’t really help anything except put a little moisture in the yard,” said Dorothy Jensen, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. “We hope you turn off your automatic sprinkler.”

The storm, which worked its way up from Baja California, dumped most of its rain on San Diego and Orange counties before its full force reached Los Angeles on Wednesday morning. Oceanside registered the highest rainfall--.67 of an inch--and Santa Ana had .40 of an inch, said Steve Burbak of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

The rainfall reading for downtown Los Angeles was .34 of an inch.

The mix of rain and oil residue on the roadways created plenty of work for the California Highway Patrol and tow-truck operators.

“We’ve had crashes all day long, major problems,” said Officer Jill Angel of the Highway Patrol.

On most morning commutes, Angel said, the Highway Patrol responds to about 10 accidents throughout Southern California. On Wednesday morning, about 50 accidents were reported, she said, including some with major injuries. No fatalities were reported.

“Most of it is just people driving too fast . . . a lot of fender-benders . . . a lot of solo car spin-outs.”

In most 24-hour periods, the Highway Patrol usually records two or three SigAlerts--a circumstance in which at least one lane of traffic is closed for at least 30 minutes. During the Wednesday morning commute, there were 10 in Southern California. “Every freeway’s been affected,” Angel said.

Angel herself spent two hours driving from Costa Mesa to Glendale, a commute she says normally takes about an hour. She arrived a half-hour late--but her boss arrived later, she said.

Jeff Spring, a spokesman for the Auto Club of Southern California, said he experienced few problems on his commute from Pasadena to the USC area. Auto Club tow-truck operators, meanwhile, weren’t so fortunate. Calls for service, he said, were up 9.2% in Los Angeles County, 27% in Orange County and 25% in San Diego County.