Rain-slicked roads snarl traffic

A rain storm predicted to last until 10 p.m. this evening has yet to cause any flash floods or force any local evacuations, but a rash of car crashes in Newport Beach has emergency workers busy.

“It’s been pretty much non-stop for the past two hours,” Newport Beach Police Sgt. Jeff Brouwer said. “Well over 10 in the past hour, easily.”

Costa Mesa Sgt. Marty Carver reported a number of “minor traffic collisions here or there,” but that the city was “relatively quiet.”

“There’s been some fender-benders, but that’s to be expected,” he said.

The National Weather Service reported a flash flood warning would be in effect until 3:15 p.m.

Meanwhile, county health officials recommended that residents stay away from the water for at least 72 hours after the rainfall because run-off increases bacteria.

“Typically what happens is that all of the debris — animal droppings, waste, trash, you name it — gets washed into the storm drain system. All of that ends up traveling to the beach,” Orange county Public Health Services Spokesman Larry Honeybourne said. “Thus, you’ll see the bacteria levels in the storm drains rise really, really high when it rains like this, and you’ll see the oceans where these drain out do the same thing.”

The storm didn’t cause any major delays at John Wayne Airport.

“There was a flight or two that were delayed going north to Las Vegas,” airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge said.