‘Pretty Powerful’ Storm Expected to Arrive With 1st Day of Spring

Rain and gusty winds are likely to put a chill in Orange County today, not exactly a bright welcome for the first day of spring.

“We’re expecting a big one,” Curtis Brack of WeatherData said Monday. “It’s going to be pretty powerful. The heaviest rain will be (today), and it looks like showers will continue through Wednesday and Thursday, letting out by Friday.”

WeatherData predicted that waterlogged Orange County, which has been inundated by several major storms since January, today may receive more than an inch of rain in the coastal areas and three to four inches in the mountains, with winds gusting up to 25 m.p.h. along the coast and up to about 40 m.p.h. in the mountains.

Caltrans and the county’s Environmental Management Agency are standing by, ready to close roads and clear fallen rocks and debris if needed.

But officials are not expecting major danger from this new storm system.

“Based on the information we have, the storm is not going to be that big,” said Bill Reiter, public works operations manager for the county.

However, other officials are a bit more anxious about the latest storm.

“We’re pretty much bracing for any storm that’s coming this week,” said Mort August, director of public works and engineering services at Dana Point. “The ground is pretty saturated. Communitywide, the concern is any significant rain is going to provide opportunities for mudslides, especially in the undeveloped lots.”

Caltrans is keeping a watchful eye on Ortega Highway, Laguna Canyon and Carbon Canyon. These areas have all suffered significant damage during recent storms and officials are prepared to shut them down again if necessary.

“Laguna Canyon has always been a problem,” Caltrans spokeswoman Rose Orem said. “The stream level is just about the same or higher than the road. If we get any intense rain, we expect it to overflow. We’ll have to have a road closure until the water level recedes.”

Fortunately, construction on most previous flood-damaged areas are complete.

“All our works for the last few storms have been completed,” Reiter said. “We’ve cleared up the flood-control systems running through the entire portion of the county and we’ve cleaned up the roads in the rural canyon areas. We just have to wait and see.”

According to WeatherData, temperatures in Orange County will reach highs in the 50s through 60s in coastal areas and upper 30s and 40s in the mountains, with morning lows in the upper 40s through 50s on the coast and middle 20s to low 40s in the mountains.

Santa Ana has been drenched with 22.32 inches of rain since last July, the beginning of the rain season, compared to normal rainfall of 10.54 inches by this time of year.

This week’s storm might not be the last of it.

“We can’t rule out something coming in April,” Brack said, “but it probably would be less powerful.”