Rains Snarl Traffic, Fill Shelters : Weather: Freeway accidents cause numerous injuries, but no deaths. The homeless fill O.C. facilities to capacity.

An afternoon downpour triggered dozens of accidents on crowded, rain-slicked Orange County freeways on Friday, including five jackknifed trucks, and caused homeless shelters to fill to capacity by early evening.

“Traffic was everywhere,” CHP Officer Bill Wedderburn said after a three-hour period during which 35 accidents were reported on various local freeways. “We had to respond to three or four times the number of accidents that we normally do, and were only able to go out to accidents where there were injuries reported.”

The wintry storm from the Gulf of Alaska, which dropped .45 of an inch of rain in Santa Ana, was expected to disappear by today, leaving clear skies and warmer weather for Halloween.

Friday’s weather prompted the Orange County Mission in Santa Ana to set up extra cots for the homeless men trying to escape the cold and rain.

“We have put cots in every square inch of space we can according to fire regulations,” said Jim Palmer, president of the Mission, which had taken in 90 men at its Santa Ana Facility and nine women and children at another facility in Huntington Beach.

After a four-day stretch of cold weather, Palmer said he had run out of alternative shelters to refer the overflow of homeless. He added that the mission was also low on food for the first time.

The Salvation Army facility in Santa Ana, the only other sizable emergency shelter available in Orange County Friday night, was filled to its capacity of 36 in the men’s compound by 4 p.m., with only a few of the 14 spaces remaining for women and children.

Rain is not expected to return for at least five or six days, offering a much-needed respite not only for the homeless, but for harried CHP officers who found themselves overwhelmed with calls during parts of the day on Friday.

During an early-morning accident in Anaheim, a 33-year-old Inglewood man was forced off the westbound Riverside Freeway at Euclid Street when the car next to him changed lanes, said Lyle Whitten, spokesman for Westminster CHP.

“He went over the side of the freeway and into some trees and bushes, (totaling) his truck,” Whitten said. “He thought he was trapped in the truck and that he was dying, so he made a last will and testament to his family with a tape recorder he had in the front seat.”

The bleeding man, whose name was not released, was able to climb out of the truck and back onto the freeway, where a police officer found him. He was taken to Martin Luther Hospital in Anaheim, treated for head cuts and released.

During an afternoon spate of rainfall, a series of big-rig truck accidents caused havoc, blocking some lanes of the San Diego, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana freeways during the evening rush hour.

On the southbound San Diego Freeway transition to the Costa Mesa Freeway, two big-rig trucks collided, causing one of the rigs to go over the side of the freeway and the other to jackknife. No one was injured in the accident, but lanes were blocked for more than two hours, Wedderburn said.

CHP officials said that despite dozens of injuries, no deaths were reported.

“My advice to drivers is to keep your headlights on so people can see you, slow down and leave more room between you and the vehicle in front of you,” Whitten said. “If more people would do that, we could avoid a lot of these collisions that we’re having.”

Anaheim got .34 of an inch of rain; San Juan Capistrano .16; Newport Beach .14; and Lake Forest .08 of an inch, said Steve Burback, a meteorologist with WeatherData, which provides forecasts for The Times.

Temperatures today should reach the upper 60s along the coast and the upper 70s inland.

“It will be quite pleasant,” Burback said. “Another storm shouldn’t be coming to California at least until Thursday.”

Times staff writer Leslie Berkman contributed to this story.