Splash, Crash Mark a Very Wet Monday

A fierce winter storm dumped heavy rain and snow that snarled highways across the coastal valleys and inland mountains of Southern California on Monday, and forecasters said there is more on the way today and Wednesday.

As much as 3 inches of rain could fall in parts of the Southland today, tying up commuter traffic for the second day and posing the threat of floods and mudslides where the ground is saturated.

Snow that forced drivers to use chains above 4,000 feet Monday was expected to reach depths of up to 4 feet by tonight. Forecasters predicted a return of the dense fog and gusting winds that reduced visibility to near zero in some of the winter resort communities in the Tehachapi, San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains.

“People should avoid travel,” the National Weather Service said. “This weather will be dangerous for unprepared hikers or campers.”

About 3 inches of rain had fallen in the mountains above Ojai by Monday afternoon, prompting Ventura County officials to issue flood warnings for Thacher and San Antonio creeks.

The California Highway Patrol reported about 1,600 incident calls in Orange County by 8 p.m., more than twice the usual total for an entire day. As of 3 p.m., ambulances had been dispatched to 48 accidents, but none were life-threatening, police said. At least eight accidents were reported on the Foothill tollway, which was partly flooded, CHP dispatcher Kelly Francis said.

At 8 p.m., Orange County CHP officers were working on 11 crashes, four involving injuries, Francis said. Mudslides on Ortega Highway made the rural route hazardous, though it remained open, Francis said.

In Los Angeles County, the CHP said it received 525 accident calls between midnight Sunday and 8 p.m. Monday, nearly twice the number during the same period a week earlier. Five people died in those accidents.

Authorities on Monday discovered the bodies of two people apparently killed when their vehicle plunged 300 feet down an embankment on Mulholland Highway south of Calabasas, CHP said.

County workers driving on Mulholland three miles west of Las Virgenes Road spotted the burned vehicle about 9:45 a.m., said CHP Officer Ray Abramian. The body of a man who appeared to be about 21 years old was found 50 feet from the wreckage, and the second victim was under the vehicle.

Their identities were being withheld pending notification of relatives. It wasn’t immediately known if the accident was rain-related.

Crashes on rain-slick pavement tied up several major highways for hours, including the Pomona Freeway in Ontario, where several big rigs overturned, and Interstate 5 in Mission Viejo, where traffic slowed to a near stop while Caltrans cleaned up chicken parts that spilled across three lanes from an overturned truck.

Standing water forced the CHP to shut down several lanes of Interstate 5 in Lake Forest and some lanes in San Clemente.

In Tustin, firefighters used sandbags to wall off a small mudslide near a construction site.

“We were just at that point where there’s enough water streaming on the roads to cause problems and slow traffic way down,” said Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Rich Paddock.

After an unusually dry fall, a month of intermittent rain has nearly saturated the soil, officials said.

“We are getting close to the saturation point in some places,” Los Angeles County hydrologist Dolores Taylor said. “We’re getting to the point where if we get another storm, there will be higher-than-moderate runoff. Then roads get damaged, and all heck breaks loose.”

The National Weather Service said 1.13 inches of rain had accumulated at John Wayne Airport by 4 p.m. Monday.

Tim Carlson, a meteorologist with Weather Central, which provides forecasts for The Times, said the rain and snow were being generated by a strong Pacific storm centered Monday off San Francisco.

“The rain and snow you got early Monday came from a cold front on the leading edge of that storm,” he said. “There’s a lot more on the way.”

Carlson said winds circulating counterclockwise around the storm center as it continued to move south were expected to pick up additional moisture from the ocean.

“The storm will suck some of that moisture right into Southern California on Tuesday,” he said. “Some of the heaviest rain in Los Angeles should be around 7 a.m., the worst time for those heading for work.”

Carlson said the rain, heavy at times, should continue, off and on, throughout the day, with a possibility of thundershowers in the afternoon. The farther south, the more rain, he said, with up to an inch in Los Angeles County, up to 1 1/2 inches in Orange County and up to 2 inches in San Diego County.

The snow line is expected to dip as low as 3,500 feet, with the heaviest snowfall above 4,500 feet, where as much as 4 feet could accumulate during the storm.

Scattered rain and snow were forecast for Wednesday, with partial clearing and continued cool weather Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

“There’s another storm coming out of the Gulf of Alaska that should reach Southern California by Sunday,” Carlson said. “Southern California will get some of that, but how much and how long, it’s too early to tell.”

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Times staff writers Matthew Ebnet and Hector Becerra in Orange County, Daryl Kelley in Ventura County, and Roberto J. Manzano and Nedra Rhone in the San Fernando Valley contributed to this report.

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How Deep?

Monday’s storm drenched Orange County with more than an inch of rain while causing minor flooding and mudslides.