It wasn’t the kind of “March Miracle” that had erased San Diego County’s water worries in the past. But the loud and rowdy storm that drenched the region Thursday greatly eased the palpable threat of wildfires, slowed a deepening drought and gave outdoor plants a good, long drink.
The cold, volatile system was far larger than the one that hit a day earlier. By 2 p.m. Thursday, the two-day rainfall totals were in the 1.5-to-2-inch range along the coast, from Camp Pendleton to San Diego, and even higher inland, from Miramar to Julian.
With spring a week away, the second storm also was dropping light snow on the oak and pine trees of Mount Laguna. It was a pretty sight — and for drivers, a vexing one, as the snow forced them to put chains on their tires to climb the highway twisting north from Interstate 8. The same thing happened on state Route 79, where passage into the area of Lake Cuyamaca was limited to residents only.
The weather — including pea-sized hail in many spots — led the Spencer Valley School District in Santa Ysabel to cut short the school day on Thursday, affecting 3,800 students.
And a surprise shower of heavy hail pelted Vista shortly before 2 p.m. — a quick hit during a particularly angry downfall that left the ground covered in icy chunks mimicking snow.
The freeways, meanwhile, were a mess. California Highway Patrol officers were busy responding to “just a ton of crashes” during the morning commute due to rain that at times blinded drivers.
In North County, Caltrans closed the far right lane of eastbound state Route 78 around 8:30 a.m. because of flooding, and crews were trying to determine if the whole freeway needed to be shut down due to standing water, Officer Jim Bettencourt said. The onramp to eastbound SR-78 at El Camino Real in Oceanside was also closed due to flooding.
Similar problems were reported in south San Diego, with lanes reportedly underwater in both directions of Interstate 805 near Main Street. Crews worked to clear blocked drains in the area.
Drivers also were finding flooding along Pacific Highway under northbound I-5, near the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, which Bettencourt said was a “usual spot” for water to accumulate in heavy storms.
The rain’s impact on traffic was noticeable at the interchange of Interstate 8 and Interstate 15, forecasters said. They also pointed to the runoff in San Diego.
The news wasn’t all bad.
Shortly after 11:10 a.m., personnel from San Diego Fire-Rescue responded to a report of a person in the water in the Tijuana River Valley.
Firefighters, a river-rescue team and a helicopter were all dispatched to Dairy Mart Road and Monument Road and conducted a search, but no body was found and the crews were released, a department spokesperson said.
Staff writer Teri Figueroa contributed to this report.
