Light Rain Snarls Morning Drive

The first storm of the season dropped less than a fifth of an inch of rain on Orange County on Monday, but was blamed for tripling 911 calls from the county’s freeways and fouling area beaches.

“The first rain of the season tends to be the worst because of all the material that’s built up over the summer,� said Larry Honeybourne, program chief for the county Health Care Agency’s water quality section. “Usually it washes a whole lot of pollutants into the storm drain system, which ends up at the beach.�

As a result, Honeybourne said, the county is urging residents to stay out of the ocean for 72 hours.

“It’s a precaution,� he said. “There’s the potential that people might become ill.�

The California Highway Patrol, meanwhile, blamed slick roads for the 79 reports of accidents it received in the county from 7 to 0 a.m.--about triple the usual number on a Monday morning.

CHP spokeswoman Katrina Lundgren said most of the mishaps were fender-benders, but three incidents were serious: a 5:30 a.m. pileup on the westbound Riverside Freeway at Beach Boulevard involved five cars and left two injured; a big-rig jackknifed on the southbound Santa Ana Freeway at the Ortega offramp at 9:30 a.m.; and a 10 a.m. six-car collision on the southbound San Diego Freeway in Fountain Valley left one person with minor injuries.

All three accidents closed freeway lanes for up to two hours.

In Los Angeles County, the CHP reported an even heavier increase in accidents Monday morning--from 76 during the same period last Monday to 289 yesterday--an increase of 280%.

Between 5 and 9 a.m., the CHP issued six SigAlerts about accidents that each tied up at least two lanes of traffic for two hours or longer. Some of the longest delays were caused by big-rigs that overturned or jackknifed on rain-slicked freeways in Arcadia, East Los Angeles, Pacoima and South El Monte, according to the CHP.

The most serious crash occurred on the northbound San Diego Freeway near Manchester Boulevard where a Cypress woman was killed after her car hit a disabled, unoccupied car in the fast lane and was sent spinning out of control, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The woman, identified as Yolanda Phillips, 43, was falling out of her car when she was broadsided by a third car, said CHP Det. Terry Donato. The accident backed up traffic for three hours and was still under investigation, he said.

Wet streets and poor visibility were also blamed for a collision near downtown Los Angeles that injured 23 people who were riding an MTA bus when it collided with a trash truck. While most of the injuries were minor scrapes and bruises and none were life-threatening, 23 passengers were transported to local hospitals for treatment, said Jim Wells, spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The storm, which drifted in from the Pacific Ocean, brought light rain starting at about 4:30 a.m. The storm dropped 0.11-inch in Anaheim, 0.09 in Laguna Beach, 0.07 in Fullerton, 0.06 in Dana Point and Santa Ana, 0.05 in San Juan Capistrano and 0.01 in Newport Beach, according to weather station reports.

In Los Angeles County, the precipitation was heavier: 0.42-inch of rain on downtown Los Angeles, 0.17-inch in Long Beach and 0.39-inch in North Hills.

But most of the dark clouds cleared away by noon, and forecasters said the region should get dry weather for the next week, with Tuesday’s highs in Orange County expected to range from the mid-60s to the upper 70s.

“There should be no more rain for Southern California,� said Guy Pearson, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. “It should be mostly sunny and warmer.�