Car Accidents Triple as Storm Drenches County

Rain drenched parts of Orange County on Tuesday, triggering the collapse of a portion of the roof at a Mission Viejo clothing store and tripling the average number of traffic accidents on local freeways, authorities reported.

The storm, which was expected to wane today, dropped 2.6 inches of rain in Silverado Canyon, 1.38 inches in Anaheim, 0.85 at John Wayne Airport, 0.31 in Mission Viejo and 0.08 in Santa Ana.

The roof collapsed at Stein Mart shopping boutique, in the 25200 block of Marguerite Parkway, at 8:40 a.m. as seven employees were removing merchandise from beneath a leak, said Capt. Steve Miller of the Orange County Fire Authority.

When they heard the sound of cracking, the workers fled to safety and within seconds a 50-foot-square section of the roof caved in, flooding the store with a foot of runoff, Miller said.

Damage was estimated at $300,000.

Slick roads contributed to most of the 70 traffic collisions on Orange County freeways from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m., California Highway Patrol officials said.

No fatalities were reported but two drivers were hurt in a 4 a.m. accident when a Laguna Hills man lost control of his SUV.

The driver, Anthony Samaniego, 21, was driving about 55 mph north on the San Diego Freeway near Lake Forest Drive when his vehicle slid across the freeway, hit a barrier on the shoulder and careened back into the fast lane, the CHP said. Samaniego safely ran off the freeway but two cars struck his vehicle.

Their drivers were hospitalized at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.