Rains Create Flooding, Havoc on Roads; 4th Storm Is Due Today : Weather: Two inches fall in some places. Roadways are shut down and cars pile up. There is no letup in sight this week, forecasters say.

Another powerful Pacific storm walloped Orange County on Tuesday, dumping more than two inches of rain in some spots and flooding streets, shutting down stretches of highway and contributing to scores of accidents, including a 13-car freeway pileup in Irvine.

The California Highway Patrol reported about 140 weather-related traffic accidents in Orange County by the time the rain abated Tuesday afternoon.

A steady noontime downpour in Irvine closed portions of the Santa Ana Freeway and shut down Laguna Canyon Road, sending water-logged motorists scurrying for alternative routes.

Weather forecasters said another storm, the fourth in less than a week, should hit shore and drop at least another inch of rain by noon today.

On its heels is a fifth storm expected Thursday and possibly a sixth by Friday night or Saturday morning, raising concerns among officials about the potential for slipping hillsides and other problems.

“There’s no sign of abatement,” said Steve Burback, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts to The Times. “We could see storm systems through Sunday. In between there will be scattered showers and clouds. If you see the sun, it will only be a brief encounter.”

All of the storms are being fueled by El Nino, an unusual shift in the ocean currents that sends tropical waters cascading north. The warm water has combined with a low-pressure system sitting off Northern California to whip up a phalanx of rain clouds that have spun like a pinwheel across Southern California in recent days.

El Toro was hardest hit by Tuesday’s storm, with 2.75 inches falling during a 24-hour period that ended at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Burback said. Santa Ana and Anaheim each had 1.18 inches during that period, while Newport Beach recorded 1.91 inches.

Despite the steady rains, the county remained behind its seasonal total as of Tuesday, Burback said. Since July 1, 6.63 inches has fallen, well off the norm of 7.88.

For a time, work crews were considering trucking in special boulders to buttress the mouth of rain-swollen Salt Creek in Dana Point, where water cascading down the channel was combining with big ocean waves to damage the channel.

“Our team is investigating it right now, and we’ll be making a decision later whether we will be sending in dump trucks and a crane to repair it,” said Bill Reiter, county public works operations manager.

The showers caused the usual driving difficulties for Orange County motorists. The roads were made particularly treacherous as monsoon-like rains fell in some spots, causing curb-side drains to overflow and leaving sheets of water atop the pavement.

Both directions of the Santa Ana Freeway at Sand Canyon Avenue in Irvine were closed at 1:30 p.m. for several hours because of flooding, the CHP reported.

About half an hour later, Laguna Canyon Road from the San Diego Freeway to El Toro Road was closed by flooding after a downpour dumped more water on the roadway than work crews could handle, the CHP and police reported.

“Usually it floods there a lot, but in this case, they got more water than they can handle,” said state Department of Transportation spokesman Steve Saville.

A 13-car chain-reaction accident along the San Diego Freeway just north of the El Toro Y tied up traffic in the northbound lanes for more than an hour. The pileup occurred when a Ford Bronco went out of control and rear-ended another vehicle, setting off a series of collisions that littered the freeway with vehicles.

“I was lucky. I thought for sure I would get it right smack in the back,” said Joe Engel, 42, of Newport Beach, who was caught in the accident.

An overturned truck on the Artesia Freeway in Buena Park about 3:15 p.m. prompted the CHP to close two lanes for several hours. It was not immediately known whether the driver was injured.

“I know it’s been crash after crash everywhere,” said Highway Patrol Cpl. Mike Lundquist in Santa Ana. “People simply don’t know how to drive in the rain.”

Lundquist said he hasn’t seen so many problems “in about eight years,” when several freeway intersections were closed because of flooding.

The day’s traffic calamities meant that CHP officers were stretched thin as they tried to keep up with the sudden rash of tie-ups.

“It’s been kind of slow because we don’t have enough” patrol cars to respond immediately, said CHP officer Rick Pena.

Irvine resident Maureen Philips was left stranded in the middle of a flooded intersection just two blocks from home when her car stalled and chugged to a stop. With water rising almost above the door frame, she opened the door and frantically waved for help to passing cars. After a few minutes, a helpful motorist pushed her car out of the intersection.

“It just died out, it’s very crazy around here,” said Philips, her hair drenched by rainwater.

County officials had a work crew of 180 working to clear debris from clogged storm drains and flood channels. They were joined by road crews of inmates from the County Jail. Many of the workers planned to continue through the night to keep ahead of the problems, officials said.

Tuesday’s storm produced mostly only isolated flooding that was corrected in a matter of hours, authorities said. But with the ground now saturated, the flurry of storms expected into the weekend could pose problems.

“We are going to stay tonight to correct all the problems out there so that we can be ready,” said Tom Connelie county manager of maintenance systems.

Times staff writers Jim Gomez, Eric Young, David Reyes and Bob Elston contributed to this report.

Rain and More Rain

An extensive area of bad weather centered over the eastern Pacific is responsible for the series of storms that is drenching Southern California. Rain, expected to continue throughout the week.

1) Bad Weather Offshore: A powerful and widespread storm system dropped down from western Alaska last Wednesday and has stalled off the coast of California.

2) Series of Smaller Storms: Other smaller storms continue to roll in from Alaska, but the large storm pulls them in more frequently, and more directly, over Southern California, than would happen normally.

3) Fueling the Rain: A jet stream also was pulled closer to California and made stronger by the big system. The stream is full of moist air, generated by the El Nino phenomenon. This air adds fuel to the Alaskan storms, resulting in heavier rainfall.

Researched by DANNY SULLIVAN / Los Angeles Times