Heavy Rain Puts Damper on Outdoor Games

Heavy rain closed a stretch of Laguna Canyon Road briefly Saturday morning and also put the damper on outdoor games ranging from college baseball to high school track meets.

In all, about 50 sporting events were affected by a storm front that moved through Orange County overnight, dumping almost an inch of rain on some areas.

The rain postponed Cal State Fullerton’s baseball game with UCLA at Titan Stadium and the Katella Relays high school track meet.

There were no reports of damage to residences or businesses, authorities said, and mostly sunny, warmer weather was forecast for today.

The storm dropped more than an inch of rain in Lake Forest by late afternoon Saturday and also doused Newport Beach with 0.76 of an inch and Anaheim with 0.59 of an inch, according to Bruce Thoren, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc. which supplies weather information and forecasts for The Times.

“It was a pretty good storm to dump that amount of rain,” Thoren said. “It’s a little unusual for this time of year and a little unusual for the amount of rain.”

Sunday’s weather is expected to be sunny and mild with temperatures in the mid 60s to low 70s, according to Thoren.

Saturday morning, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for the burn areas of Southern California, including Laguna Canyon. But by late afternoon the warning was canceled and no damage was reported.

The closure of Laguna Canyon Road occurred about 4 a.m., mostly as a precaution against mudslides from barren hillsides denuded by last fall’s devastating wildfire, authorities said.

The road was closed between 3rd Street and El Toro Road, but only for a “ brief time,” according to a police dispatcher. “By the time I came on duty at 7 a.m., it was open again.”