Rain Leads to Numerous Accidents
Another blustery morning delivered more welcome rain to the San Diego area Wednesday as autumn continued to wrap up its tenure in stormy style. Showers began dousing the county's northern reaches late last night and spread to its southern limits through the predawn hours, according to the National Weather Service. The cloudbursts kept up until midday, then gave way to clearing skies across the region, the NWS reported. By then, anywhere from a few one-hundredths to two-fifths of an inch of precipitation had fallen from Oceanside to San Ysidro. The storm left 0.11 of an inch of moisture at Lindbergh Field, 0.15 in Julian, 0.16 in Mission Valley and Kearny Mesa, 0.2 in Poway and Ramona, 0.24 on Palomar Mountain, 0.32 in Escondido and 0.4 in Fallbrook and Santa Ysabel. It also ushered in all-too-predictable commuter miseries on the county's roadways. Between midnight and 5 p.m., the California Highway Patrol tallied 84 traffic accidents, as compared with the 50 to 75 crashes the agency deals with over a typical 24-hour period of fair weather. The spate of freeway wrecks included at least two vehicle rollovers, one in Old Town and another in National City. No serious injuries were reported, however. More rain may hit the region as the workweek comes to a close, according to forecasters, who predicted a roughly 30 percent chance of showers late tomorrow night through early Friday morning. Beginning Saturday, the first day of winter, partly clear skies and warmer temperatures should settle over the county, NWS meteorologist Steve Vanderburg said. Those conditions are likely to last until Christmas and beyond, he said.

Helicopter crash that killed Navy crew still a mystery Minutes after lifting off from the deck of the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, two Navy MH-60S Seahawk helicopters flew in formation above the calm Pacific near San Clemente Island. Bearing the call signs Bullet 10 and Bullet 11, the Seahawks cruised through a few light clouds at 2:23 p.m. Jan. 26, 2007. The flights were part of a training exercise on how to board and inspect ships at sea. Suddenly, Bullet 10 dropped like a stone. “Mayday, mayday, mayday,” said Lt. Adam Dyer, the aircraft's commander. “Strap in, PCL, PCL,” Dyer said, ordering a cutback on the power control level. His recovery attempts did no good. Nine seconds after the first indication of trouble, the helicopter slammed into the water tail down and rolled on its right side. Everyone aboard the aircraft – Dyer, his co-pilot, Lt. j.g. Laura Mankey, and two search-and-rescue swimmers, Petty Officer 1st Class Cory Helman and Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Will – died in the accident. Nearly a year later, naval aviators remain baffled as to why Bullet 10 fell about 50 miles west of Camp Pendleton. Navy investigators spent months interviewing witnesses, examining wreckage and detailing what happened in the final minutes before the crash. But they couldn't determined its cause. The San Diego Union-Tribune obtained a copy of the investigation last week through a Freedom of Information Act request. Unsolved crashes are “incredibly rare,” said April Phillips, a spokeswoman for the Naval Safety Center in Norfolk, Va. As a result of the crash, the investigators urged the Navy to install crash-resistant flight data recorders on its aircraft. The devices record critical information such as air speed, altitude, pitch and engine power. Such recorders aren't required in many military aircraft. They've been mandatory for civilian airliners for nearly 50 years. “The lack of a flight data recorder on board the aircraft greatly hindered the search for the cause of the accident,” the lead investigator, whose name was deleted by Navy lawyers, wrote in his report. “A record would exist that could clearly identify any failed component.” The report chronicled the Bonhomme Richard's quick response to the crash as Bullet 11's crew buzzed overhead. The ship's rescue swimmers and small boats reached the crash scene. They pulled Will's body from the water, but medical corpsmen couldn't revive him. A 24-hour search turned up a few pieces of wreckage, but no signs of the crew. Three weeks later, Navy salvors recovered the rest of the helicopter and the bodies of the other three crew members from the ocean floor – 3,700 feet beneath the surface. They brought the remains to North Island Naval Air Station, where the helicopter's squadron is based.

Wet Weather Causes Mess On Roadways San Diego County is experienced more wet, winter weather Wednesday. The storm prompted flood watch concerns earlier in the morning and a number of car accidents. The California Highway Patrol reported 26 accidents on local freeways between midnight and 7 a.m. Wednesday. One of the crashes throughout the county included an accident in National City at the 47th Street offramp from northbound Interstate 805, where a Hummer tipped over. The driver reportedly suffered minor injuries and no other vehicles were involved. The offramp was blocked for about an hour until the Hummer could be moved. This accident was reported shortly after 1:00 a.m. Wednesday. Also, a driver was pinned inside a vehicle after a rollover crash in Old Town around 5:40 a.m. The accident prompted a SigAlert on northbound Interstate 5 near the Interstate 8 connector. The driver was transported to the UCSD Medical Center and the SigAlert has since been lifted. If you are driving this morning, make sure to give yourself a few extra minutes to travel safely to your destination. Meantime, there is good news for burn areas. The National Weather service has lifted a flash flood warning.

Car Accidents Multiply As Weather Worsens SAN DIEGO -- Rain-soaked roads contributed to reports of twice as many accidents in San Diego County as on an average Friday, California Highway Patrol officials said Saturday. There were 140 crashes on San Diego County freeways and in unincorporated areas between 12:01 a.m. and midnight Friday, according to a CHP report. In a normal, "good weather " 24-hour period, there are 50 to 75 crashes reported.

Car Accidents Multiply As Weather Worsens SAN DIEGO -- Rain-soaked roads contributed to reports of twice as many accidents in San Diego County as on an average Friday, California Highway Patrol officials said Saturday. There were 140 crashes on San Diego County freeways and in unincorporated areas between 12:01 a.m. and midnight Friday, according to a CHP report. In a normal, "good weather " 24-hour period, there are 50 to 75 crashes reported. The most dangerous period was between 4 and 9 a.m. when there were a total of 66 crashes reported. There was at least one or more accident every hour Friday until 10 p.m., CHP officials said. Saturday's CHP report only includes crashes on state freeways and rural highways, and does not include city police reports.

Law firms are flocking to Carmel Valley to take advantage of centralized location
It might seem like the set-up line for a joke about lawyers gathering near a freeway. Still, it's a serious question: Why are so many lawyers flocking to the east side of Interstate 5 in Carmel Valley? What was once a beachhead for a few corporate law firms near the I-5 interchange with state Route 56 has in recent years become a full-on invasion – creating a new legal power hub and center for business services. At least two dozen law firms are now clustered along High Bluff Drive and El Camino Real, making the 92130 ZIP code a premium locale that encompasses some of the priciest office space in San Diego County. The concentration of legal firepower in the area, including law firms in University Towne Center, may be second only to the downtown law offices around San Diego's courthouses, 19 miles to the south. For the most part, though, Carmel Valley's lawyers don't need to work downtown, either because they rarely appear in court or because they are as likely to go to trial in Boston or Seattle as in downtown San Diego. “It's a very important and positive trend that's been building in San Diego,” said Mark Reed, a senior managing director in San Diego for CB Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate services firm. Many of the new law offices represent satellite operations for large firms with hundreds of attorneys in offices nationwide and even overseas.

Driver of stolen pickup hits girl walking to school SAN DIEGO: An 8-year-old girl was critically injured early yesterday when she was run over by a hit-and-run driver in a stolen pickup as she walked to school with her twin sister. Officials said the driver then slammed into an Emerald Hills house before running away. Witnesses said the girl was knocked about 12 feet, said San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Maurice Luque. She was taken to a hospital with massive head and internal injuries, police said. The child's twin sister did not appear to have been struck by the pickup. She suffered some scrapes, said San Diego police spokeswoman Mónica Muñoz. Police said the pickup was speeding south on Kelton Road near Luber Street about 7:20 a.m. when the driver tried to pass a car and lost control of the pickup. The pickup hit one of the twins, then sheared off a fire hydrant, sending a geyser of water into the air. The truck then struck a house and severed a natural gas line. The driver pulled back onto the road and drove away, but abandoned the white GMC pickup on Dream Street and ran off, police Sgt. Kerry Tom said. Witnesses described the driver as a black man perhaps 20 years old, about 5 feet 8 inches tall, a chunky 160 pounds, clean-shaven, with short hair. He wore a white sweat shirt and khaki pants and carried a black backpack. –P.R. & K.K.

Fiery collision with rig kills man on Route 94 SAN DIEGO EAST COUNTY: A 55-year-old Spring Valley man was killed yesterday in a fiery head-on collision with a big rig on state Route 94 near Jamul. The victim's Lexus IS350 lodged under the semi's front end, and both vehicles caught fire. The Lexus was shoved backward for 200 feet until the truck driver could brake to a halt, said California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Pennings. The victim's name was not released. He was driving west on Route 94 about two miles east of Rancho Jamul Drive when, witnesses reported, he swerved into the eastbound lane for no apparent reason. Nestor Rogelio Lopez, 29, of Tecate, Mexico, was driving east in an empty tractor-trailer rig and had no time to avoid hitting the Lexus, Pennings said. He said flames damaged both vehicles before firefighters arrived. Lopez was taken to a hospital with moderate injuries. Route 94 was closed between Rancho Jamul Road and Honey Springs Road until about 5:30 p.m. –P.R.