Rain! Cars but Not Drought Dented

Thursday’s rain snarled traffic and flooded a hotel garage, but it did little to end Orange County’s yearlong drought.

“It didn’t dent it, but it scratched its paint,” said Amy Talmage, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

The rainfall, which ranged from 0.1 inch in Anaheim to 0.5 inch in Laguna Beach, started before dawn when a low-pressure system moved across Central California, bringing moisture that “kind of said, ‘Hi, California, nice to run into you,’ ” Talmage said.

In Orange County, however, the meeting was less than cordial.

The California Highway Patrol reported 148 accidents on county freeways and roads, about 30% more than usual and including at least one fatality on Antonio Parkway near San Juan Capistrano. That accident happened about 3:40 p.m. when a pickup truck spun out of control and was broadsided by a minivan, CHP spokesman Mark Reeves said.

The truck’s driver, Michael Bartsch, 33, of Yucaipa was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman driving the minivan was taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where she was in critical condition late Thursday. Two children who were passengers in the van were not injured, Reeves said.

In another weather-related incident, the underground parking area of the Holiday Inn in Dana Point was flooded by 3 feet of water. Hotel guest Ray Ciok said he saw four cars with water up to mid-door level. “Mine was one of them,” he said. “Fortunately, it’s a rental.”

Ciok, vacationing from Oakridge, N.J., said the rain caught him by surprise. “An earthquake we would have anticipated, but not this rain.”

Farther south, 3,500 gallons of raw sewage spilled onto a street and into the flood control system to Poche Beach between San Clemente and Dana Point.

That was not caused by the rain, though, said Monica Mazur, an environmental health specialist for the Orange County Health Care Agency. Someone in San Clemente tossed a “rather large potted plant” down a sewer line, she said, causing a backup.

County health officials closed Poche Beach and issued a general health advisory in the wake of Thursday’s storm.

“We recommend that people stay out of the water along the coastline for at least three days,” Mazur said, especially in areas where storm drains, creeks and rivers meet the sea: “All the runoff contains very high bacteria levels.”