BIG RIGS PILE UP IN RAIN; TRUCK LANES BLOCKED BIG RIGS PILE UP ON SLIPPERY INTERSTATE-5.

Byline: Orith Goldberg Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The first rain of the season brought some traffic mayhem, including a crash involving five big rigs in Newhall, but the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday may have cushioned the blow Monday.

``Usually, the first rain is really dangerous,'' Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Richard Larue.

From 5 to 9 a.m., the California Highway Patrol dealt with 114 crashes in the area, compared with 56 during the same period a week ago, CHP spokesman Lou Aviles said.

Rain likely contributed to the pileup in the truck lanes on the southbound side of the Golden State Freeway south of Newhall. A truck came around a bend and applied the brakes at about 10 a.m., and it was hit from behind as the chain-reaction crash began, CHP officials said.

There were no serious injuries, but the truck lanes were closed nearly two hours.

A semitrailer truck and a car tangled in a separate freeway crash shortly after 1 p.m., near Lake Hughes Road in Castaic, and at least one motorist was injured, CHP Officer Rosa Ray said.

While reports of crashes more than doubled from a week ago, the toll would have been worse if the holiday had not kept many cars off the roads during job-commuting hours, Aviles said.

``The number (of crashes) could have been much higher had there been more people on the road,`` he said.

Santa Clarita Valley residents can expect intermittent rain through Thursday, with temperatures peaking at 60 degrees and dipping down to the lower 50s, said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist for the National Weather Service.

Los Angeles County Fire Batallion Chief Daniel Scott said the rain helps reduce fire hazard, but there has not been enough of it to guarantee a reprieve from the threat caused by am unusually dry, warm and windy fall and winter.

``I don't think we're out of the woods yet,`` Scott said.

Seasonal rainfall is well below normal this year, with less than an inch reported since July 1, compared with an average 6.4 inches, Seto said.

CHP Officer George White cautioned motorists to steer clear of the truck lanes, especially when it's raining.

``I stood out there, and 90 percent of the vehicles in the lanes were cars and 10 percent were trucks,`` White said.

White explained that trucks cannot maneuver as well as the other vehicles and need the special lanes.

Larue also advised motorists to keep more distance between vehicles while driving in the rain, especially when the weather has been dry and lifted oil from the asphalt, making it more slippery.