First Big Storm of the Season Hits Southland

Some took to the mountains, braving the miserable prospect of wrestling with tire chains. Others headed to the beach for a chance to surf waves reaching eight feet in Santa Monica Bay, despite warnings of high bacteria levels from storm-drain runoff.

And then there were all those motorists on Saturday, banging into each other on the freeways, creating traffic nightmares throughout Southern California.

In short, weather ruled the day in much of the Southland as a series of frosty northern storms marked the season’s first big rain, bringing with it cheers and jeers.

By late Saturday, the National Weather Service said 1.06 inches of rain had fallen on the Los Angeles Civic Center. Santa Barbara was pelted with 2.80 inches and Woodland Hills with 2.02. Long Beach received 0.94 of an inch while Newport Beach got only 0.47.

San Diego missed the brunt of the storm, receiving only 0.33 inches of rain Friday night and early Saturday morning.

“It’s been a typical winter storm and they’ve had much more rain and snow in the Los Angeles area,” said Dan Atkin, staff meteorologist for the National Weather Service in San Diego. “We’re just catching the tail end.”

But an extra two-thirds of an inch is expected to fall today in San Diego County as a second storm brings a 70% chance of rain.

Temperatures are expected to be in the high 50s and low 60s today and slightly warmer Monday and Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

Rain-slicked streets resulted in a higher than average number of San Diego County traffic accidents, but none were serious, said John Marinez, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.

“Everything seems to be running smoothly although the forecast is for rain throughout Sunday night,” he said.

Although the mountains in San Diego County did not get much snow Friday night or Saturday morning, Atkin said Sunday’s storm would probably bring substantial snowfall.

The second storm is expected to hit Southern California early today, carrying with it just as much rain, if not more.

And a third is waiting in the wings, which could make a lot of folks in Pasadena unhappy because it is supposed to arrive on New Year’s Eve or early New Year’s Day--just in time for the Rose Parade.

Rain or shine, officials vowed, the parade will go on.

One of Saturday’s scariest moments came in Orange County. A sudden surge of runoff sluicing down the Santa Ana River nearly washed away four homeless people who had camped under an overpass to escape the downpour.

Stranded on a pylon in the middle of the swollen waterway, they were rescued hours later by firefighters.

In the local mountains--high above the flooding, mudslides and power failures--ski-area operators were positively giddy. Because of the state’s enduring drought, it had been ages since so much snow--roughly a foot--had fallen during what is traditionally the resorts’ busiest week. The operators were glad to be making money, and the skiers didn’t seem to mind spending it.

“Hey, I can’t ski on rain, so I left it behind and came to the snow,” said Bob Miller of Bellflower while zipping his parka in the parking lot of Mountain High, a ski area in nestled 7,000 feet in the San Gabriel Mountains.

“There are hits everywhere,” gushed snowboarder Micah Stepanian of Wrightwood. “Hits are jumps. You can jump off things.”

“It’s like another world up here. It’s such a getaway,” added Lynn Cullough of Palmdale, who said that earlier in the week she was in a frenzy, selling jewelry to last-minute shoppers at a J.C. Penny. “Now I feel like going home to a Christmas tree and turkey.”

Skiers were not the only ones taking advantage of the storm. Los Angeles County lifeguards said surfers were shredding excellent storm-churned waves, despite county health department warnings that the rains were pushing bacteria-tainted runoff out of storm drains and polluting coastal waters.

Lt. Mickey Gallagher said Saturday’s storm-stoked surfers “just shined us on” when they were warned that they should stay on the sand because of the pollution potential in Santa Monica Bay.

“Most of them are aware of it and they’ll take their chances,” Gallagher said. “They want to get the ultimate wave.”

Tracy Van, manager of The Sand Castle restaurant, which sits practically on the beach in Malibu, said people were dropping in all day to savor a drink and the view. “It was fantastic--all the waves crashing in. . . . It’s beautiful, as long as you’re not outside.”

On the roadways and freeways, there was no getting away from the inevitable crashes and tragedies.

One person was killed on the rain-slickened Santa Ana Freeway in Irvine, and six cars and three trucks--two of them loaded with highly flammable cargoes--piled up in a crash Friday night on the Long Beach Freeway in Compton.

Intermittent rain also caused a flurry of fender-benders around Los Angeles County, including six minor accidents involving 12 cars on the Ventura Freeway in Calabasas.

“We’ve had more accidents, a tremendous amount more than normal,” CHP Officer Steve Munday said. “I ran a log last night . . . and we had 44 accidents just in one hour. I’m sure we had at least a couple hundred over the night. We were running about 40 an hour over the first couple of hours.”

Still, authorities blamed most accidents on poor driving, not extreme weather.

“The rain was the original cause (of the Ventura Freeway accidents), but, as usual, people were going too fast,” said Capt. Doug Silgen of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. “Somebody skidded into one car, which slammed into another, and then somebody hit the center divider. Then a couple of looky-loos spun out down the road.”

Said Sgt. Martin Dailey of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department: “It doesn’t rain in California, so people are just inexperienced at driving in inclement weather, and whenever we have a good rain it seems to bring out the worst.”

Times staff writers Josh Meyer and Mark Platte contributed to this report.