Storm Drenches Already Sodden County, Snarls Traffic

The second storm to sweep across Southern California this week pelted Orange County Wednesday with downpours, causing numerous accidents and one death.

Orange Police Lt. Art Romo said the driver of a 1969 Ford Mustang died when the vehicle was rear-ended by another and burst into flames. Romo said the driver was westbound on Santiago Canyon Road near Kennymead Street and skidded across the center divider.

An oncoming sedan hit the right rear area of the Mustang as it cut across the lanes, causing the Mustang’s gas tank to catch fire. The two cars were then hit by two others traveling east, Romo said.

The Mustang’s driver died at the scene, and three people in the other three vehicles were taken to a hospital with moderate injuries, police said. Names of the victims were not available Wednesday. The accident, which occurred at 12:22 p.m., remained under investigation.

“We’re trying to determine the cause. At this point all we can say is that it was weather-related,” said Romo.

Wednesday’s storm blew in from the Gulf of Alaska just as local residents were starting to dry out from Monday’s storm, which toppled trees in Santa Ana Canyon and caused raw sewage spills.

“This was just an accumulation of showers compared to the storm that hit Monday,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Stan Wasowski. “The bulk of the storm actually hit in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The folks up there got 2.17 inches of rain between 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. Orange County got off light.”

Within a 24-hour period ending at 3 p.m., meteorologists reported that an inch of rain had fallen in coastal areas and 2.5 inches in local mountains. The downpour in the Santa Ana Mountains prompted the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood watch that lasted through midnight.

An urban and small-stream flood advisory was also issued through 7 p.m., but that was hardly news to motorists.

Most of the rain fell in the afternoon and played havoc with the evening commute. Traffic snaked to a crawl on local freeways as motorists attempted to maneuver through and around flooded areas.

At 1:50 p.m. Huntington Beach police shut Pacific Coast Highway between Goldenwest Street and Warner Avenue, as they do every time it rains heavily.

California Highway Patrol officials said three northbound lanes of the Costa Mesa Freeway were closed at the 1st and 17th Street exits most of the day because of flooding.

The rain kept CHP officers busy all day responding to more than 200 calls by 3 p.m., most of them minor accidents.

“It was much busier than usual. There were a lot of noninjury accidents, and a lot of cars were hitting the center divider,” said CHP Officer Katrina Lindgren. “Orange County wasn’t as busy as Los Angeles, but it was still busy.”

Garden Grove firefighters responded to a call of a downed power line at 2:30 p.m. on Stanford Avenue between Brookhurst and Gilbert streets. No injuries were reported.

Cold overnight temperatures and precipitation may produce a sprinkling of light snow on Saddleback and other local mountains this morning, said Wasowski of the National Weather Service.