Rain Doubles Trouble on Southland Streets

A second day of stormy weather brought more rain and snow to the Southland on Tuesday, triggering another rash of traffic-tangling fender-benders and slowing mountain travel to a crawl.

Officials said rain-slicked streets led to more than twice the normal number of accidents during the morning commute. In one crash on the Golden State Freeway near Elysian Park, a car was crushed beneath an overturned big rig, but the car’s driver escaped serious injury.

Snowplows were able to keep the interstate open Tuesday, but the snow level dipped as low as 3,000 feet in the Tehachapi, San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains, and chains were required on several roads leading to popular ski resorts.

Forecasters said the inclement weather should end by this morning, with sunny skies predicted for this afternoon and all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday. No more stormy weather is expected before next week, at the earliest.

The National Weather Service said 0.62 of an inch of rain fell on the Civic Center between midnight and 3 p.m. Tuesday, almost twice as much as on Monday. The total this season--which runs from last July 1 through June 30--is 3.02 inches, less than half the normal total for the date of 7.3 inches.

Other daily figures as of 3 p.m. Tuesday included 1.2 inches in Simi Valley, 0.52 of an inch in Monrovia, 0.5 in Anaheim, 0.46 in Pasadena, 0.35 in Culver City, 0.33 in Chatsworth, 0.25 in Northridge and 0.15 in Newport Beach.

Hail fell Tuesday in several foothill communities, including Glendale and Azusa.

Tuesday night, the California Highway Patrol indefinitely closed the northbound Angeles Forest Highway, just north of Angeles Crest Highway, because of heavy snow.

Between 4 and 8 inches of new snow was reported Tuesday at mountain resorts, raising the two-day total in several ski areas to more than a foot.

The problem was in getting there. The CHP said that while all major mountain routes remained open, chains were required above 5,000 feet in most areas.

But if traffic was moving slowly in the mountains, it was hardly moving at all on many of the Southland’s freeways during the morning rush hour. The CHP said there were 161 accidents in Los Angeles County between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m., compared to a normal total for the period of about 60.

The most spectacular crash occurred about 9:15 a.m., when the trailer of a skidding big rig toppled onto a compact car. No one was seriously hurt.