Early rain drops in

The rain, thunder and lightning that hit Southern California on

Tuesday should be gone by today, and Newport-Mesans can look forward

to brighter skies, according to the National Weather Service.

“It’ll just be some low clouds in the morning. It will be mostly

sunny,” weather service forecaster Don Whitlow said.

Hurricane Max, a Pacific Ocean storm west of Mexico, likely

contributed to the rumbling storms that lighted up the sky late

Monday and into Tuesday, Whitlow said. The hurricane and other

weather factors combined to produce the rainfall.

Monday and Tuesday’s scattered thunderstorms dropped 0.28 of an

inch of rain on Costa Mesa during a 24-hour period that ended at 3:30

p.m. Tuesday, according to the weather service. Newport Beach

received 0.24 of an inch of rain in that time.

The storms led Newport Beach officials to briefly close off Balboa

Boulevard on Tuesday. Newport general services director Mark Harmon

said the road was closed from about 1:15 to 2:30 p.m. between 44th

and 47th streets after the flooding began at about 12:30 p.m.

“It was too much water too quick, and the street just flooded,”

Harmon said.

Harmon said he had not received any reports of private property

damage caused by flooding. In Costa Mesa, public services director

Bill Morris said there were no significant problems.

Newport-Mesa did not escape rain-related power outages, Southern

California Edison spokesman Paul Klein said. As of noon Tuesday,

about 1,000 people in all of Orange County were experiencing a power

outage. Klein did not have access to specific information on how many

people in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach lost power during the storms.

At John Wayne Airport, lightning-related safety concerns meant

airport workers did not fuel aircraft between 8 and 8:30 p.m. Monday,

airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge said. Wedge said there were no

flights delayed Monday, but similar precautions that were taken at

about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday led to one flight to San Jose being briefly

delayed.

The Orange County Health Care Agency issued an advisory Tuesday

reminding people to stay out of ocean and bay waters for at least

three days after the rain stops. Rain means that more urban runoff

flows to coastal waters, which means bacteria levels often spike

following storms.

“Everything’s that’s in the storm drains, in the gutters and on

your lawn -- everything -- is on the way to the beach,” agency

spokeswoman Monica Mazur said.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment.