Kay, morphing from a tropical storm, pulls its punch
Tropical Storm Kay — transitioned into a “post-tropical cyclone” — dropped heavy rains over Southern California Friday night into Saturday morning, but the damage reports were relatively minimal: mostly minor flooding and toppled trees.
The storm also knocked out power for thousands of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers early Saturday, as well as others served by Southern California Edison in Orange and San Bernardino counties.
By Saturday afternoon, the Los Angeles utility said about 16,000 customers' power had been restored; about 12,795 awaited restoration as of Saturday evening.
In Long Beach, the fire department, partnering with a volunteer community emergency response team and a search and rescue group, filled sandbags and shuffled sand to create a berm to keep the high tides from reaching homes and streets.
Two homes had minor water intrusions and minor flooding occurred on a few streets, but no major damage was reported, fire officials said. The water breached a 40- to 50foot section of the berm near 66th Place, but crews quickly repaired those areas.
Fire officials and volunteers were continuing efforts Saturday, anticipating high tide just past 10 p.m., LBFD spokesman Jake Heflin said.
Residents along the shoreline were encouraged to take precautionary measures by placing sandbags in front of garages and doors, and by picking up any items off the garage floor and taking them into the house, Heflin said.
In nearby Seal Beach, restaurant owners Brian Kyle and Rosie Ritchie arrived to find a muddy parking lot with 6 inches of water at the Beach House in Seal Beach, they told CBS Los Angeles. The restaurant, under construction, had been set for a grand opening in a couple of weeks.
“I kept watching the waterlines, and I was going uh-oh,” Kyle said. “We're just staying positive,” Ritchie said.
In Monrovia, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works had issued a potential minor to moderate mud and debris flow forecast in the neighborhood of Ridgeside Drive and Oakglade Drive.
The city installed 1,700 feet of K-Rail between the neighborhood and Monrovia Canyon Park in February 2021 following the Bobcat fire in an effort to keep debris and mudflows from reaching homes, officials said.
Both county and city public works departments planned to respond to any reported mud or debris flows.
Elsewhere, fallen trees were reported in Whittier and San Clemente, where residents took to Facebook with photos of two long-standing palm trees that had broken at T-Street Beach due to the winds Friday morning.
A post-tropical cyclone no longer possesses significant tropical characteristics, but it still can carry heavy rains and high winds, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters expected that to continue on Saturday, with a flood watch in effect through the evening in the Los Angeles County mountains and the Antelope Valley as well as the mountain regions of San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
The storm brought relief to Southern California, where an extensive heatwave ushered in triple-digit temperatures and prompted the state's energy grid to issue Flex Alerts calling for energy conservation during peak hours for 10 straight days.
What remains of Kay continues to bring with it the possibility of scattered showers this afternoon and evening and Monday, with an even smaller chance of thunderstorms, which will diminish by nightfall, meteorologists with the National Weather Service said.
By Tuesday, temperatures will be back to normal, hovering in the low to mid-80s for inland areas and mid-70s along the coasts, they said.
“It's about as normal as can be after all this craziness,” said NWS Meteorologist David Sweet.
The possibility for rain and thunderstorms today is higher in the Inland Empire mountain ranges, with NWS forecasting a 60% chance, Meteorologist James Brotherton said.
Monday presents a lower risk of rainfall and thunderstorms, he said. By Tuesday, the region should be dry through the remainder of the week.
Low clouds and fog in the mornings will be followed by partly cloudy skies with temperatures in the mid-70s to low80s for most of LosAngeles County, Sweet said. Spots in the Inland Empire could reach the low 90s, Brotherton said.
Orange and Los Angeles counties have issued advisories: anyone visiting a beach in the next few days is urged to be cautious, as areas near storm drains, creeks and rivers can be contaminated with bacteria, chemicals and debris after heavy rain.