Soddenly Soggy

By SCOTT MARTELLE

Jan. 14, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Elementary school students in Laguna Beach are getting a little lesson in earth science, thanks in part to heavy rains over the past few days that have exacerbated hillside erosion near three portable classrooms at Top of the World Elementary School.

School officials fear erosion could worsen during rains forecast for today and Wednesday, and were making plans Monday to move more than 80 fourth- and fifth-grade students temporarily to allow workers access to the site. On Sunday, city workers were called in to stack sandbags and pump puddled water away from the site.

The erosion has “grown a lot in the last couple rains,” Principal Sharon Maloney said. “It’s just really become more pronounced. We’re concerned.”

The most recent rain--more than 2 inches in 24 hours in Anaheim--caused problems across Orange County, from slowed traffic to health postings at beaches. And heavy surf that grew Monday served as advance warning of another storm system moving in from the Pacific.

“Right now it’s maybe 800 to 1,000 miles offshore,” said Curtis Brack, a meteorologist for WeatherData, which provides forecasts to The Times. “It’s been sitting there for several days. The surf it’s generated is finally reaching the California coast. It’s kind of out there between Hawaii and the southern Gulf of Alaska.”

A portion of that storm was expected to split off and drift over Central and Southern California, bringing more rain today and Wednesday.

“Once that little part of the system moves through by late Wednesday, it should be dry after that,” Brack said.

The change in weather comes too late for workers at Power Paragon at 901 E. Ball Road in Anaheim. Standing rainwater helped collapse a 50-by-75 foot section of roof there, sending debris, water and a six-ton air conditioner tumbling into the building’s main conference room shortly before 1 a.m Monday.

A security guard, who had just finished a walk-through check of the one-story building, was standing in the lobby about 50 feet away when the collapse occurred, said Bob Stewart, security supervisor for the power supply manufacturer.

“He said it sounded like a bomb, and then like the ocean was rushing in,” Stewart said. The shaken guard was sent home. The firm was closed at the time, and there were no injuries.

Nearly 30 Anaheim firefighters spent more than two hours sopping up water in the building. One battalion chief on the scene described the air conditioner as the size of a small car. The unit apparently had been causing the roof to sag for some time, fire officials said. It was unclear if roof drains were clogged, but fire officials said water was mid-calf deep.

“All of that weight, coupled with all of that standing water, finally made the roof give way,” said Tabby Cato, a fire department spokeswoman. A salvage team removed the unit. Officials estimated the damage at $1 million.

The intensity of the rain varied across Orange County, from .87 inches at Fullerton Airport to 2.05 inches at Anaheim for the 24 hours ending at 4 a.m. Monday. Most of the county reported between 1.6 and 1.8 inches. By Monday morning, the steady rain had dissolved into broken clouds and scattered squalls moving in from the Pacific, leading to downpours in some places but starkly beautiful skies--including double rainbows--in others.

But the rain had already swelled drainage systems, prompting county health officials to warn against ocean swimming near outlets.

“They carry urban runoff that flows untreated into the ocean,” said Larry Honeybourne, program chief of the Orange County Health Care Agency’s Water Quality Section. “It contains anything in the urban environment--fertilizer, road oils, animal wastes, litter and all those other good things.”

Honeybourne, citing a study last year by the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Project, said that people who swim in runoff areas run higher risks of contracting infections of the digestive and respiratory tracts, as well as the eyes and ears.

Coincidentally, health officials lifted a separate posting Monday afternoon for the beach north of Aliso Pier, contaminated last week when 440,000 gallons of sewage spilled into Aliso Creek after the failure of a pump station in the Moulton Niguel Water District--the second-largest spill in the county since 1993.

Health workers have been collecting water samples daily to measure fecal coliform counts, an indicator of disease-producing bacteria. Health officials reopened part of the 1.5-mile stretch of coastline on Friday and the remainder at 3:45 p.m. Monday.

Also contributing to this report were Times correspondents Bonnie Hayes and Leslie Earnest

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Stormy Monday

Rainfall for the season to date in Santa Ana is more than twice normal and 10 inches more than what fell last year. Santa Ana totals, in inches:

Season to date: 11.44

Last season to date: 1.47

Normal to date: 4.91

Inches of rainfall from around the county for 24 hours ending 4 p.m. Monday:

Dana Point: 0.62

Lake Forest: 0.89

Laguna Beach: trace

Santa Ana: 0.96