Heavy Rain, Strong Winds Batter O.C.; More Predicted

Heavy rainfall and high winds whipped through Orange County on Sunday, snapping tree limbs, sparking flash-flood warnings and doubling freeway accidents as drivers skidded across rain-slicked roadways, the CHP and other agencies said Sunday.

“We hope we don’t need boats here in Orange County,” said Monty Keifer, a California Highway Patrol dispatcher after an unusually heavy downpour between 7 and 9 p.m. caused at least eight accidents on county freeways. None of the accidents resulted in deaths.

Visibility at 7:15 p.m. was reduced to 50 feet during a heavy downpour on the Corona del Mar Freeway, Keifer said. “We’ve been fielding reports from motorists telling us about minor flooding on freeway lanes.”

Throughout the day, emergency fire and police agencies were busy responding to calls ranging from accidents to downed trees to a man who suffered electrical shock when a power line toppled on him at a car accident scene.

“We’ve had numerous traffic accidents and flooding at intersections,” said Orange County Sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Wren. “We’ve also had reports of manhole covers coming off because of the tremendous water pressure and then cars getting stuck in them as they drive over. We just got hit bad.”

The storm also prompted activation of the county’s storm center, which allows county flood officials to monitor rising rivers.

Late Sunday, flash-flood warnings were issued for Laguna Canyon Road and Aliso Creek in Laguna Beach by the National Weather Service.

The storm is expected to dump from half an inch to 1.5 inches on Orange County through today, said Peter Boyle, a meteorologist with WeatherData, which provides forecasts for The Times.

“The heavy rains should start tapering off sometime in the late morning,” he said. The region should get some clearing in the afternoon before another storm strikes Tuesday.

Guy Pearson, also a forecaster at WeatherData, said the wind-whipped downpours are the result of winter storm systems tracking farther south than normal. As a consequence, Southern California is experiencing a February more suitable to the Bay Area.

By nightfall, half an inch of rain had fallen in downtown Los Angeles, 0.6-inch in Long Beach and 0.7-inch in Burbank.

The rain also shut the Sepulveda Basin because of flooding and triggered mudslides and rockslides across the county. Boulders the size of 30-gallon fuel drums blocked Topanga Canyon Boulevard south of Old Topanga Road, the CHP said. Other mudslides blocked Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu and San Gabriel Canyon Road at East Fork in the Angeles National Forest.

Two lanes of the northbound Golden State Freeway near Gorman also were closed when the downpour created giant potholes.