A Parched Southland Welcomes Rain : Storms: Weather is blamed for high number of freeway accidents. Forecasters say more showers are on the way.

Southern California soaked up much-needed moisture Wednesday from the region’s first significant rainfall in seven weeks, with prospects of still more through the weekend.

The storm dropped 1.48 inches on downtown Los Angeles by late Wednesday, slowing traffic to a standstill at times on metropolitan-area freeways. Five SigAlerts were declared by the California Highway Patrol during the day.

The CHP blamed a combination of rain-slick pavement and bad tires for the death of a Port Hueneme man who suffered massive head injuries when his car plunged off the Pacific Coast Highway in the Malibu area at midday. Investigators said the victim, Jose Alfaro, 22, was not wearing a seat belt, and the tires on the right side of his car were bald.

The northbound lanes of the Pasadena Freeway were closed for at least an hour Wednesday night while Los Angeles City Firefighters rescued a seriously injured motorist whose car ran off the roadway at Avenue 60 in the Highland Park area, rolled down a concrete embankment and came to rest beside the swiftly flowing Arroyo Seco. Rescuers searched for a second person reported to be in the car, but they found no one, fire officials said.

Caltrans said the number of freeway incidents, including overturned trucks, automobile accidents and disabled vehicles was “four to five times” above normal.

“This is the first rain in a long time and the roads get slicker, bringing a lot of oil to the surface of the road,” said a Caltrans spokesman. “People start to lose control.”

Blowing dust cut visibility to near-zero on California 58 in Bakersfield Wednesday morning, causing a 50-vehicle chain-reaction crash that injured at least 36 people, eight of them seriously or critically. No one was reported killed.

Drivers could barely see anything because of blowing dust when the chain reaction began about 10:30 a.m., California Highway Patrol Officer Mack Wimbish said.

“Due to the drought, it’s very dusty out here,” Wimbish said. “Wind came up a little bit and really lowered the visibility. There was zero visibility at the time of the accident.”

Meteorologist Dan Bowman of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, said the storm front that moved in during the night was stronger than forecasters had expected.

The center of the comma-shaped system still was about 250 miles off the coast at midafternoon Wednesday and was expected to reach the Los Angeles area during the night or today, bringing thunderstorms with hail and wind gusts up to 40 m.p.h., Bowman said.

About 400 to 500 miles behind the first storm is a second front, which Bowman predicted would reach the coast by late today, or early Friday. Another storm is still farther out, but Bowman said it is too far away to predict its potential.

“With more storms headed our way, this could help a lot,” Bowman said.

But, the meteorologist also noted that the three storms were not tapping subtropical moisture, which could produce “humongous” amounts or rainfall. He expected up to 1 1/2 inches to fall in some areas by midday today, with 2 to 4 inches in the mountains.

Wednesday’s rain brought the season total at the civic Center to 2.86 inches, still 8 inches below what would be normal for the date, the National Weather Service said.

“We are so far behind (normal rainfall levels) even 200% of normal would not be sufficient to bring us out of the drought,” state Department of Water Resources drought specialist Dean Thompson said.

By nightfall Wednesday, 1.19 inches had fallen on Mt. Wilson and 1.05 inches had fallen in San Gabriel. An inch of rain had fallen in Culver City and Northridge.

Other high readings included 0.92 in Torrance, 0.90 in Santa Ana, 0.88 in Montebello, 0.83 in Santa Barbara, 0.80 in Pasadena, 0.79 in Monrovia, 0.71 in El Toro, 0.70 in Long Beach, 0.70 in Anaheim, 0.63 at Los Angeles International Airport and 0.56 in Newport Beach.

Rain was the probable cause of a two-minute loss of electrical power in the Civic Center shortly after 5 p.m., the Department of Water and Power said. The brief blackout affected the DWP headquarters itself, along with City Hall, the Music Center and other downtown buildings.

The rain played havoc Wednesday on Orange County’s streets and highways, causing slick roads, poor visibility and traffic jams from morning to evening, authorities said. Prospects of more rain were seen as good and bad news for the area’s growers.

“Strawberries need to be picked on a pretty timely basis,” said Nancy Jimenez of the Orange County Farm Bureau. “When they peak, they need to be picked. Period. But the rain will delay that for some farms, although we need the moisture.”

In Ventura County, many farmers turned off pumps and irrigation systems as the rain began to fall Wednesday morning.

At Leavens Fairview Ranch in Moorpark, manager Charles Schwabauer said he almost did a rain dance as big droplets dotted the ground around 10 a.m.

“We’ve worn all the leather off our shoes trying to get it here,” Schwabauer said. “We are elated.”

In San Diego County, the storm turned freeways into slippery slides and caused flooding at some interchanges. The CHP reported more than 100 accidents between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., spokesman Bob Wolf reported.

Although the storm is expected to alleviate drought conditions only temporarily, San Diego’s Mayor Maureen O’Connor urged residents to take advantage of the rain and abstain from watering their lawns.

Elsewhere in the state Wednesday, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for today in the Southern Sierra from Yosemite to the Kern County line because of prospects of heavy rain, 35 m.p.h. winds with gusts of 50 m.p.h. and snow falling at 6,000 to 7,000 feet.

The snow level in the Southland mountains is expected to lower to 6,000 feet by today.

Times staff writers David Reyes in Orange County, G. Jeanette Avent in San Diego County, and correspondent Christopher Pummer in Ventura County contributed to this story.

THE RAIN 24-hour total: 1.48 in.

Storm total: 1.48 in.

Monthly total: 1.48 in.

Total for season: 2.86 in.

Last season to date: 5.43 in.

Normal season to date: 10.98 in.

Figures, based on 8 p.m. readings at the Los Angeles Civic Center, are compiled by the National Weather Service.