Post Offices Buried by Pre-Holiday Avalanche : Mail: In what has become a seasonal tradition, crowds descend to send off their last-minute cards and packages, putting local postal workers to a grueling test.

It was a frantic flurry of motion, hands flying and sweat dripping.

It was, at least for many postal workers, the day from the dark side, the day of the mail storm of biblical proportions.

Every year, exactly one week before Christmas, crowds suddenly descend on post offices around Orange County, arms overloaded with packages and bundles of envelopes. Postal workers move into warp speed.

At the U.S. Postal Service’s two processing and distribution centers in Orange County--including the one on Sunflower Avenue here--this last-minute deluge was expected to bring about 3.8 million cards and letters and more than 200,000 parcels.

“The last Monday before Christmas we know it will be busy because it always happens,” said Terri Bouffiou, a Postal Service spokeswoman. “I don’t know why people wait until the last minute. We encourage people to mail early. But this happens every year.”

Postal worker Maryann Fritz-Galassi worked up a sweat as she separated, according to ZIP codes across the country, hundreds of large Christmas packages.

The 21-year employee said that after all this time, she is used to the pressure and actually finds something to feel happy about: “I imagine a child opening up the package and having a big smile.”

Most workers behind the scenes at the county’s two distribution and processing centers in Santa Ana and Anaheim will put in 12-hour days over the next week to make sure cards and packages arrive in mail boxes and on doorsteps by Christmas Day.

Mail handler George A. Brown, a nine-year postal employee, sorted through letters and rejected those too big to pass through the automated canceling machine or those that were damaged or unsealed.

The machine cancels about 32,000 letters an hour, and on Monday all eight canceling machines were operating to handle the extra holiday mail.

Yet, there is a certain resignation born of experience.

“This will be the busiest day--the mail flow will be heavier,” said Donna Witherspoon, a 10-year postal veteran. “We all know how it’s going to be busier for Christmas--and we’re prepared for it.”

For postal clerks across the county, it was also an intense day at the retail counter.

Kevin Ferguson, a window clerk, said when he opened the post office on Sunflower at 6 a.m., there were already about 25 people in line.

“It was the first time I’ve ever seen that--it’s very rare to have one or two people out there waiting,” he said.

Nationwide, the postal service expected to cancel about 250 million cards and letters on Monday, officials said. An average day is about 88 million cards and letters. Bob Gillis said on Monday there was three times the normal volume of mail canceled at the Santa Ana facility, where he is senior plant manager.

In addition to the 1,500 regular employees at the Santa Ana and Anaheim facilities, Gillis said 190 temporary workers were hired to help deal with the holiday season.

To make it easier for customers, post offices will extend hours Saturday. Mailing services are available at some Orange County malls.

Bouffiou said the Santa Ana Post Office on Sunflower will be open Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.