O.C. Drenched Again in Powerful Winter Storm : Weather: High winds and rain damage buildings and snarl traffic, but no new major landslides are reported.

A powerful storm hammered Orange County on Monday, collapsing the roof of a furniture store, causing scores of traffic accidents and whipping up winds that damaged cars and homes in Brea and Placentia.

Houses in Anaheim Hills, Laguna Beach and San Clemente continued to sit precariously on unstable ground, but miraculously, two days of rain had little immediate effect on them.

“Looks like we got through this pretty good,” Anaheim City Manager James D. Ruth said. “It doesn’t appear as if there was any additional damage.”

The storm’s punch, however, affected other parts of the county and Southland.

* Runoff from hillside canyons poured into subterranean garages in Beverly Hills, inundating scores of luxury cars.

* Health officials in Los Angeles County declared beaches from Pacific Palisades to the Palos Verdes Peninsula off limits after the heavy rains overloaded sewer lines, causing 3.5 million gallons of partially treated sewage to be dumped into Santa Monica Bay.

Forecasters estimated that between 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 inches of rain fell throughout most of Orange County, with about five inches recorded on Santiago Peak.

However, Steve Burback, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which supplies forecasts for The Times, said, “The heaviest stuff is over.” He said there is a chance of a few light showers today, with partly cloudy skies tonight and Wednesday, followed by generally clear weather on Thursday and Friday.

The fast-moving storm hit parts of north Orange County the hardest, with tornado-like winds toppling trees and sending branches and other debris whirling into houses and cars.

“What we saw was a big funnel cloud,” said Scott Tassone, sales manager at Brea Nissan. “It sounded like thunder. It made the ground shake.”

Tassone said the roof of the dealership was blown off by the fierce winds and that at least five new cars were dented or had their windshields shattered.

“It’s real messy here; there’s broken glass everywhere,” he said shortly after the funnel passed. “Fortunately, most of the people were indoors or under shelter.”

Nearby Placentia also experienced the wrath of a small cyclone that ripped off the shingled roofs of several homes on the 400 block of Seminole Avenue, causing about $10,000 worth of damage.

One resident, Ginny Waite, said the littered street outside her home was testament to the tremendous strength of the winds. Two large doors had been ripped from their hinges, and two large trees had fallen nearby, she said.

Along with the winds, the county was soaked by torrents of rain, which at times came down so heavily that many motorists found it difficult see beyond their windshields. More than 70 traffic accidents were reported on the county’s freeways.

“From about 10:30 a.m. to noon we were getting calls one right after another,” said Officer Rick Pena of the California Highway Patrol in Santa Ana.

The storm was blamed for a 23-car pileup that shut down the westbound Riverside Freeway in Corona, a popular commuter route for many county workers. The chain-reaction accident came just before 11 a.m. near the intersection with the Corona Expressway and took several hours to clear, CHP Officer David Banez said.

Also on the Riverside Freeway near the Orange Freeway junction, a jackknifed truck spilled diesel fuel in the eastbound lanes at 11 a.m., forcing the closure of that side of the freeway for about an hour and a half.

Orange County police and lifeguards reported mild flooding in some areas of Huntington Beach and San Clemente. Pacific Coast Highway, between Golden West Street and Warner Avenue, was closed early Monday morning but was reopened later in the day, police said.

Flooding also forced the indefinite closure of the northbound lanes of Laguna Canyon Road between El Toro Road and the San Diego Freeway.

The storm damaged some telephone lines, causing sporadic loss of service, said Linda Bonniksen, spokeswoman for Pacific Bell. Requests for service numbered 1,600 by Monday afternoon, 600 more than average, she said.

In La Habra, the combined weight of collected rain and an air conditioner caused the roof of a 5,000-square-foot furniture store to collapse at about 4 p.m., a Fire Department spokesman said.

No one was hurt, but the damage left the Quality Bed & Furniture Store in the 1600 block of West Whittier Boulevard in disarray, said Eddie Leeward, the store manager.

“Oh boy, did we get wet. This is the worst mess I’ve ever seen,” Leeward said. “It’s like a bomb hit the store.”

The adjacent Sears Outlet store in the 30-year-old building was also damaged, said Capt. Fred Rodriguez of the La Habra Fire Department. A section of roof about 20 feet wide by 20 feet long collapsed, causing the evacuation of about 10 Sears employees and 20 customers, Rodriguez said.

The downpour Monday was also responsible for frayed nerves in Anaheim Hills, Laguna Beach and San Clemente, where storm-triggered landslides last month damaged dozens of homes.

In Anaheim Hills, where more than 45 homeowners have been evacuated, city crews worked to prevent further slippage and damage.

City crews set up sandbags in potential flood areas and sealed cracks in pavement and patios. They also continued pumping about 200,000 gallons of water from the underground water table in an effort to stabilize the hillside, which started moving last April but accelerated its descent after the January rains.

“We’ve been very concerned about the rain,” said Anaheim Hills resident Michael Clayton. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, and a lot of people around here are frazzled.”

Although there were no additional signs of damage Monday, Anaheim spokesman Bret Colson said geologists were concerned about problems that might occur as more rain soaked into the ground.

Mud and flooding forced the Irvine Police Department to close Irvine Center Drive from Lake Forest Drive to the 405 freeway at 9 p.m., a police spokesman said. It was expected to reopen about 11 p.m.

In Laguna Beach and San Clemente, officials reported no new major slides or damage from the two days of rain.

“There have been a lot of small slides around town, but we’ve had those for a month now, nothing major,” Laguna Beach City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said.

But, Frank said, there was another small slide Monday in the Mystic Hills area where three homes were destroyed in a mudslide last month. No additional homes, however, were threatened, he said.

Times staff writers David A. Avila, Phuong Le and Len Hall and correspondent Anna Cekola contributed to this report.

Southland Rain Watch

Rainfall figures for the 24-hour period ending at 4 p.m. Monday. Season totals and norms are based on precipitation from July 1 to date. L.A. BASIN:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Avalon/Catalina 1.30 1.30 15.46 6.93 Culver City 4.04 4.10 20.00 7.64 Long Beach 1.50 1.50 17.40 7.52 L.A. Civic Center 2.29 2.29 19.52 8.72 L.A. Int’l Airport 2.72 2.72 18.79 7.00 Montebello 2.30 2.30 18.95 7.50 Santa Monica 1.78 1.80 12.64 7.32 Torrance 2.40 2.40 18.28 7.81 UCLA 5.60 5.60 22.86 9.52

*VALLEYS/CANYONS:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Beaumont 3.70 3.70 28.05 8.98 Monrovia 2.22 2.24 28.55 NA Pasadena 3.20 3.20 23.65 11.36 Riverside 1.57 1.62 15.76 5.92 San Bernardino 2.43 2.59 15.06 9.50 San Gabriel 2.30 2.30 25.08 9.82 Santa Clarita 3.50 3.56 22.42 9.95 Woodland Hills 3.72 3.79 21.94 9.36

*ORANGE COUNTY:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Anaheim 1.36 1.36 17.08 NA Irvine 2.14 2.14 8.08 NA Lake Forest 2.43 2.43 20.02 NA Newport Beach 1.51 1.51 15.43 6.56 San Juan Cap. 2.30 2.30 19.70 NA Santa Ana 1.22 1.26 18.15 7.61

*SAN DIEGO COUNTY:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Chula Vista 0.55 0.57 9.28 5.44 Del Mar 1.65 1.65 13.27 NA Oceanside 0.95 0.95 12.09 5.86 San Diego 1.28 1.28 13.22 5.99 Vista 1.45 1.49 14.01 7.57 El Cajon 1.05 1.05 11.98 7.32 Escondido 1.90 1.90 21.46 9.31 Poway 2.08 2.13 18.45 7.17

*SOUTHLAND MOUNTAINS:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Big Bear Lake 2.95 2.96 32.15 13.95 Mt. Laguna 3.17 3.27 37.82 NA Mt. Wilson 4.41 4.74 41.03 19.82 Palomar Mtn. 3.52 3.70 56.62 15.51

*DESERTS:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Bishop 0.14 0.14 1.41 3.50 Death Valley 0.35 0.35 0.93 1.16 Borrego Springs 0.88 0.88 12.12 4.24 El Centro 0.51 0.51 5.90 2.05 Palm Springs 0.98 0.98 10.57 4.12 Thermal 0.68 0.68 4.00 2.21

*SANTA BARBARA/VENTURA:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Ojai 2.40 2.40 28.78 11.53 Oxnard 2.29 2.29 11.03 8.19 Santa Barbara 0.99 1.16 13.61 9.65 Santa Paula 2.38 2.38 18.10 10.04 Ventura 3.12 3.22 17.47 7.64

*SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY:

REGION PRECIPITATION IN INCHES 24-Hour Storm Season Season Total Total* Total Norm Bakersfield 0.55 0.55 6.29 3.02

NA indicates figures not available. In other cases, some totals may be incomplete because of missing station reports.

* Amount of rainfall since the last zero-precipitation day.

SOURCE: National Weather Service and WeatherData Inc.