After days of downpours, a final push for storm systems moving through Southern California
After days of downpours, the final round in a series of storms that have drenched Southern California caused rock slides and flooding and other problems Thursday, prompting several water rescues, snarling traffic and causing some injuries.
But the extended run of wet weather also has helped to replenish the region’s water supplies, bathing the soil and vegetation in hills and canyons.
The storm systems have brought impressive rainfall totals, with some Orange County cities, for example, seeing more rain in the past three days than they did throughout all of last year’s storm season.
“This shatters anything we saw last year,” said Alex Tardy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Last year’s storm season was very dry, Tardy said, dropping only three inches of rain in the region. It only took the past three days to equal that amount.
The rain Thursday was gradual and widespread, pouring out steadily and evenly across the region. That was unlike Tuesday night in Anaheim, Huntington Beach, and Seal Beach, when the storm spit out one and a half to two inches of rain in a two hour span.
For those craving warmer and drier temperatures, Santa Ana winds are expected to blow into the region on Friday and into the weekend. Tardy said rain is not expected in the foreseeable future.
By February, Tardy said we can expect greener hills, a welcome sign in a region where dry vegetation and the ongoing droughts fuel annual wildfires.
“As you know, the last year was a really bad fire season,” Tardy said “So this is really good as rain is soaked up in the ground.”
Officials are glad to of gotten through the storm relatively intact.
“Orange County appears to have gone through the storm relatively unscathed,” said Capt. Larry Kurtz with the Orange County Fire Authority.
“It’s good to see we made it through this series of storms without any significant issues,” said Shannon Widor, a spokesperson for Orange County Public Works. “It’s January, so we’re still in the middle of storm season, so were gotta keep a close eye in those areas of concern.”
Widor was mainly referring to Trabuco Creek Canyon Road, which during one of December’s storms saw 200 tons of dirt and debris that flowed down from the Holy fire burn areas. The road was temporarily closed on Thursday out of caution.
Aside from a downed 50-foot tree in Rossmoor, Orange County did not see any major incidents, Widor said.
The situation on Thursday in Los Angeles was more aggressive. The county’s public works department reported a massive boulder that fell onto Stunt Road in Calabasas, shutting the road down between Mulholland Highway. and Schueren Road.
The night before, a small rockslide shut down parts of Malibu Canyon Road, injuring one person who was inside their car when rocks began to fall.
Los Angeles County Fire crews rescued two people from water rushing through the San Gabriel River. In Industry, fire crews rescued a man living in the riverbed who became trapped on the roof of a vehicle by fast-moving water. In Pico Rivera, a 30-year-old woman had fallen into water near the Whittier Narrows Dam. A county fire helicopter was already in the air and quickly rescued her. Both were transported to local hospitals for minor injuries.