Big Rig Tips on Bridge in Rainstorm

Police struggled for more than four hours Saturday to right a truck that dangled over the Garden Grove Freeway in Santa Ana after toppling on a connector ramp in wet weather, authorities said.

California Highway Patrol officers feared the big rig would break in two and plunge onto motorists below. The vehicle was eventually hauled to safety using three heavy-duty tow trucks, a CHP dispatcher said.

The truck, which belongs to a private company that transports U.S. mail, hit a guardrail and tipped over just before 10:10 a.m. on the connector ramp between the eastbound Garden Grove and northbound Orange freeways. The driver managed to crawl out through a window, and no one was hurt, authorities said.

The accident was one of dozens caused by slippery roads as the first of two Pacific storms hit Orange County on Saturday.

Clouds dropped 0.11 of an inch of rain on Santa Ana, but forecasters warned that a more powerful storm moving in today could dump as much as 2 inches by Monday morning. Rainfall for the season to date in Santa Ana is 5.4 inches, far more than a year ago, when 1.14 inches had fallen.

The heavier storm could also bring thunderstorms and hail. Showers are likely through the middle of next week, said Alan Shoemaker, a meteorologist with Weather Center Inc. “It really won’t have a chance to dry out until Wednesday night,” he said.

Temperatures are expected to reach a high of 58 degrees but will feel much chillier thanks to a stiff breeze brought by the storm, he said.