Storm Raises Hopes for End to the Drought

The first rainstorm of fall pelted Southern California with a steady downpour Saturday, causing numerous accidents on slick freeways and raising hopes for a heavy rainy season after six years of drought.

The storm caused a major traffic accident in the Newhall area of Los Angeles County, touched off funnel cloud sightings near Fresno, left three inches of rain in Stockton and spurred conservation workers to shore up hillsides in the fire-ravaged East Bay Hills area of Oakland, where there were fears of mudslides.

The storm surprised weather experts by coming far in advance of an easterly moving cold front. “It’s way in front of the main weather system,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Dick Hickey. “That means the rain will probably be prolonged into at least Sunday morning.”

Stephanie Hunter, an expert with Weather Data Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, suggested that such prolonged rainfalls are needed in continued doses to make up for the lagging rainfall totals of recent years. “This is the kind of rainfall you want a lot of,” she said.

Shortly after the rain began falling in the Los Angeles area, an oil tanker-truck skidded on the Antelope Freeway near the Newhall Pass. The crash caused a chain-reaction accident that involved four other big rigs and several cars. The tanker skidded and rolled over on the freeway’s truck lane about 12:10 p.m., said California Highway Patrol Officer Kem Williams.

Diesel and fuel oil spewing from the overturned truck caught fire, then four other trucks and several cars collided, Williams said. At least two people were injured, including an unidentified woman burned by flaming fuel. She was in critical condition at Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills.

By 3 p.m., about 6,000 gallons of fuel oil and a lesser amount of diesel fuel had gushed onto the road. Some of the fuel leaked into storm drains, forcing closure of the southbound truck lanes. State wildlife officials were also called to the scene to prevent damage to the environment, Williams said.

In the Los Angeles area, the rain caused so many accidents that CHP officials were unable to provide a count. “How about a million-plus?” Williams offered.

An accident involving a big rig shut down three lanes of the eastbound Pomona Freeway near the Long Beach Freeway, backing up traffic to the East Los Angeles interchange. There were numerous fender-benders and complaints of minor injuries, Williams said.

“People are skidding into each other all over the place,” he said.

The first sprinkles were detected Saturday morning, said meteorologist Hickey. Drizzles were reported in Compton and the Mid-Wilshire area as early as 7 a.m. By 5 p.m., .31 of an inch of rain had fallen on downtown Los Angeles.

Rain amounts were expected to reach .25 to .50 of an inch along the coast, with up to an inch of rain in the mountains, he said. Snow levels were expected to drop to 7,000 feet by Sunday morning. A few inches of snow were possible in higher elevations, forecasters said.

No rain was reported on the Grapevine section of the Golden State Freeway, but overcast skies appeared to have slowed traffic and reduced the crush of visitors expected for the final weekend of the Christo umbrella exhibit. Crowds were smaller than expected and significantly less than last weekend’s turnout, according to Caltrans officials and coordinators of the Umbrellas Project.

Despite the inclement weather, thousands of viewers managed to visit the 1,760 yellow umbrellas on display in the Tejon Pass. “It hasn’t been as crowded as it was last week but it’s definitely crowded,” said Lori Bates of the Umbrella Project.

Project employees, who oversee the exhibition for the Bulgarian artist, had expected at least 30,000 people to pull over along the pass and see the umbrellas. But staffers estimated that visitors numbered fewer than 20,000.

In Oakland, where rain stopped falling by mid-morning Saturday after continuing through Friday night, city Fire Department spokesman Rick Noble said that there was no evidence of any mudslide activity.

Storm warnings were posted across the state. In Five Points, southeast of Fresno, California Department of Forestry officials spotted two funnel clouds. One reportedly touched down briefly.

Times staff writers Richard Paddock in San Francisco and Jim Herron Zamora in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

THE RAIN

24-hour total (as of 5 p.m.): .31 in.

Storm total : .31 in.

Monthly total: .31 in.

Total for season: .53 in.

Last season to date: .02 in.

Normal season to date: .47 in.

Figures, based on 5 p.m. Saturday readings at the Los Angeles Civic Center, were compiled by the National Weather Service.