Rain Storm Arrives Early; Cuts Power, Snarls Traffic

The first of a trio of thunderstorms rolled into San Diego hours ahead of schedule on Wednesday, throwing freeway traffic into confusion, causing power outages and flooding streets.

Electricity to more than 13,000 homes and businesses was knocked out throughout the county, and more than 130 accidents were reported by the California Highway Patrol from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The rain-laden storms were not expected to arrive until Wednesday afternoon but by 7 a.m. droplets were already falling, said Wilbur Shigehara, spokesman for the National Weather Service in San Diego.

The stronger of the storms was expected to intensify overnight with the second storm moving in today with gusts up to 25 m.p.h.

Calling the troika the “mother of all storms” in recent times, Shigehara said storm clouds may drop 1 to 2 inches of rain along the coast and up to 4 inches in the mountains before skies begin clearing Friday afternoon.

Anticipating the now rare sight of rain wetting city streets and lawns, San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor called on all water users to take advantage of the free water falling from the skies and stop outdoor watering for at least 10 days.

City water users, Caltrans, and San Diego State University responded and announced they would shut down their sprinklers for 10 days. San Diego State went a step further and will shut off its sprinklers for the next 30 days, university officials said.

External irrigation accounts for more than 40% of the water used in the city of San Diego, city officials said.

With the storm moving in well ahead of schedule, freeways became a slippery slide for commuters, CHP spokesman Joe Wolf said.

No fatalities or signal alerts were reported but traffic during peak periods was snarled with fender benders, he said. The CHP responded to 132 traffic accidents in an 8 1/2-hour period, Wolf said.

Vehicles were spinning out of control and ending up in the center divider or in the ice plants along embankments, he said. Officers ceased responding to non-injury accidents because of the onslaught of calls.

Caltrans workers posted signs warning of flooding on the Carmel Valley Road off-ramp from Interstate 5 and on the interchange between southbound California 805 and eastbound Interstate 8.

San Diego Gas & Electric reported multiple outages from Vista to Point Loma which shorted power to about 13,000 homes and businesses.

In Vista, a substation capacitor failed, knocking out power to 850 customers for about 15 minutes.

In Lemon Grove, about 4,800 customers lost power for about 15 minutes when a capacitor atop a power pole shorted out. And in Point Loma, tree fronds blown onto a conductor forced a power outage for about a half hour. Other scattered outages were also reported.

In La Jolla, a sewage main broke in the 1700 block of Soledad Avenue, but city workers were not sure if the increase of water running into the sewers caused the break.