Rainfall sets record for the day

SAN DIEGO — San Diego set a record Monday afternoon after nearly an inch and a quarter of rain fell at Lindbergh Field, the city’s official weather station. The previous record for this date, set in 1992, was 1.15 inches. By 4 p.m., the dark clouds had dropped 1.38 inches of rain at Lindbergh Field, topping the previous record for a Dec. 7 of 1.15 inches, set in 1992, the NWS reported. Over a 24-hour period ending at 5 p.m., the storm dropped 4.29 inches of precipitation in the Cuyamaca area, 3.77 inches in Agua Caliente, 3.06 in Julian, 2.46 in Santa Ysabel, 1.99 in Kearny Mesa, 1.9 at Brown Field, 1.86 in Bonita, 1.59 in Poway, 1.51 at Rincon Springs, 1.09 in Encinitas and 0.62 in Ramona, the NWS reported. The East County highlands went white with blankets of snow that accumulated throughout the day. The frozen drifts were expected to extend down to altitudes around 4,500 feet. The showers had immediate and all-too-predictable impacts on local traffic. Between midnight and 5 p.m., the California Highway Patrol logged 391 accidents in the San Diego area, as compared with the 50-75 collisions the agency typically responds to during an entire day of dry weather. The stiff winds and downpours also flooded roadways, downed trees and contributed to power outages that left tens of thousands of homes and businesses without electricity over the day, officials said. A cold front is expected to hit the county shortly after nightfall. Intense downpours are possible, said forecaster Stan Wasowski of the National Weather Service. The blustering winds and steady rain knocked out power to more than 28,000 residents and businesses across the county Monday, with the largest cluster of outages reported in Kensington, Talmadge and the College Area. The inclement weather has disrupted trolley service on two lines during the busy afternoon commute. An overhead electrical line, which powers the trolley, is down on the blue line between E and 8th streets in National City, and a train is stuck on the southbound tracks, said Rob Schupp, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transit Service, which operates the trolley. Southbound trolleys are being stopped at the Bayfront/E Street station and passengers are being transferred to buses to reach the remaining stations, Schupp said. The trolley may not start running again until about 7 p.m. On the orange line, tree limbs have fallen on the overhead electrical lines between the Grossmont and Amaya stations and trolley service has halted in that area, the spokesman said. Service there is expected to be interrupted until about 6:30 p.m. As of 3:50 p.m., San Diego Gas & Electric reported 18 outages still affecting 7,400 customers. Communities impacted included University Heights, North Park, Normal Heights, Bonsall, Pala, Valley Center, Rincon, Pauma Valley, Ocean Beach, Point Loma, Fallbrook, Ramona, San Marcos, La Jolla, Chula Vista and Borrego Springs. SDG&E has deployed extra crews and will try to restore electricity within an hour or two of an outage report, said spokeswoman Sabra Moallem. Flood-prone streets around the region were closed as water levels rose, including Camino de la Reina at Avenida del Rio in Mission Valley, Mission Gorge Place at Mission Gorge Road in Grantville and part of Monument Road between Dairy Mart Road and Hollister Street in the Tijuana River Valley. An influx of rain-driven sewage from the Tijuana River prompted an ocean-pollution alert today for a stretch of coastline from the U.S.-Mexico border to Coronado, authorities reported. The contamination — a frequent result of precipitation in the far southwestern reaches of the San Diego region — has been carried northward by sea currents since this week’s showers began, according to the county Department of Environmental Health. Signs warning of sewage pollution will stand on the affected beaches until follow-up testing deems them safe again for recreational uses. Dozens of crashes were reported on rain-slickened freeways as the first significant rainfall since February began to fall in earnest early Monday. Read the entire Union Tribune story here.