Heavy downpours overnight and during Friday’s morning commute led to crashes, spinouts and flooding on roadways across San Diego County.
SigAlerts were in effect Friday morning on northbound Interstate 5 near Camp Pendleton, on southbound I-5 near Oceanside and on northbound I-15 at Friars Road, where a big-rig spinout caused backup to Adams Avenue around 7:30 a.m.
A late-night crash involving a semi-truck on northbound I-15 near Adams Avenue was still creating traffic delays early Friday.
Even in areas without official traffic alerts, CHP responded to about a dozen crashes between 7 and 8 a.m. and rain was creating slowdowns on major roadways, like the state Route 78 to Interstate 15 transition ramps in North County.
San Diegans are not used to seeing this much rain in San Diego in November, reports NBC 7’s Brooke Martell, who says there were several flooding incidents in the county.
Near the coast, roads were experiencing minor flooding from downpours. In Mission Beach, NBC 7 reporter Nicole Gomez waded through calf-high water along Mission Boulevard near Brighton Court, although no major damage was reported.
In North County, Basilone Road near Camp Pendleton was closed in both directions due to flooding, affecting people coming and going to the military base.
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Caltrans and CHP remind drivers to ensure their windshield wipers, tires, brakes and hazards are working properly before heading out. San Diego police officer Anthony Carrasco urged drivers to slow down in the rain and leave a distance of 5 seconds between themselves and the vehicle in front of them.
Hydroplaning is one of the biggest problems seen on roadways during the rain. Drivers who find themselves hydroplaning should avoid panicking and do the following, according to AAA:
Do not brake
Ease your foot off the gas pedal
Re-accelerate once you’ve gained control
The storm, the third system in a week, was expected to bring showers and possible thunderstoms through the morning hours before slowly moving out of the region, NBC 7 Meteorologist Sheena Parveen said. Some scattered showers could linger into Saturday.
San Diego was expected to dry out by the end of the weekend into early next week, the National Weather Service said. And, the Thanksgiving holiday was expected to be dry and warm.
You know that earthy, fresh smell after it rains? It’s called petrichor, and the reason it smells so good has a lot to do with bacteria.