WEIRD WEATHER
Record rain in July? The remnants of a tropical storm system bring debris flows, power outages and a freeway washout
Rain, sometimes heavy and accompanied by thunder and lightning, fell over Southern California on Sunday, the second wave of a rare summer storm system that brought a weekend of beach closures, power outages and warm, muggy air to the parched region.
Particularly hard hit Sunday afternoon were Desert Center — where a bridge washed out on Interstate 10, closing the freeway in both directions— and Moreno Valley, where firefighters worked to keep mud out of half a dozen homes.
July rain is so unusual in Southern California that the storm broke a number of records for the month. The 0.36- inch that fell in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday set a record for the most rainfall in July, surpassing the quarter- inch that fell in July 1886, said National Weather Service meteorologist David Sweet.
“July is typically the driest month of the year,” weather service meteorologist Scott Sukup said Sunday. “Tohave that much rain yesterday and another significant storm today is pretty unusual.... For July it’s historical.”
Forecasters expect patches of rain and some heavy downpours through Monday as the remnants of a tropical storm off Baja California continued to stream north, producing the kind of sticky weather more akin to Houston than midsummer in Los Angeles.
The storm that arrived Saturday was expected to drop an additional one- half to three- quarters of an inch of rainfall through Monday evening, Sweet said.
How weird was the weather? The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were rained out at home for the first time since 1995. The game has been rescheduled for Monday — assuming, of course, that it doesn’t get rained out again. The San Diego Padres were also rained out.
Farther east, Interstate 10— akey route for truckers
and travelers — was shut down late Sunday afternoon after a bridge washed out in Desert Center.
The bridge is about halfway between Palm Springs and the Arizona border, near where California 177 meets the 10. It carries eastbound traffic about 15 feet above a normally dry wash. When the bridge broke apart, it ended up in the floodwaters below, the California Highway Patrol said, blocking all traffic headed toward Arizona.
Thirty feet of the eastbound 10 Freeway “is washed away and the bridge is gone,” according to the CHP.
One driver had to be rescued from a pickup that crashed in the collapse and was hospitalized with moderate injuries, the Riverside County Fire Department said.
Late Sunday, California transportation officials said the westbound side of the bridge had also been badly compromised by flooding. Caltrans spokeswoman Terri Kasinga said the interstate will be closed “completely and indefinitely,” offering no time frame for the freeway’s reopening.
A pair of small nearby highways that could have served as detours were also closed.
Drivers were being turned around at Chiriaco Summit on the eastbound side of the 10 and at Corn Springs on the westbound side. Traffic was reportedly backed up for miles, with no real place for motorists togo.
In Moreno Valley, Riverside County Fire Department spokeswoman Jennifer Fuhrman said water and mud were “coming down the mountain” in the 9900 block of Whitewater Road. Firefighters were “trying to keep it from getting in the houses,” Fuhrman said, but there was an “immediate threat ofmud, and there was water inside” at least one of the homes.
The CHP responded to several reports of flooded roadways and stuck vehicles in the Riverside and Moreno Valley areas, where a cluster of thunderstorms dropped more than an inch of rain, according to the National Weather Service.
In Orange County, a debris flow stranded several residents in Silverado Canyon on Sunday evening.
“We had a pretty significant mud and debris flow that went into the creek and then across Silverado Canyon Road, making the road impassable,” said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Steve Concialdi.
The debris flow, in the Smisek Ranch area, is “about 300 feet long, around 3 feet deep and 4 to 5 feet wide,” Concialdi said, and residents are unable to get out.
“We had a 1,000- acre brush fire back in September, sowe have a pretty large burn scar,” he said.
“So when we do have significant rain, that mud and debris come downhill toward the road, toward homes.”
No homes, however, were at risk, Concialdi said.
Crews using heavy equipment were working to clear the road way of mud, downed trees and other debris. “We’re going to be here throughout the night,” Concialdi said, adding that he could not say whether the mess would be cleared by Monday morning.
A flash- flood watch was in effect through Monday evening for Los Angeles County mountains, recent burn areas and the Antelope Valley.
The moisture has been a boon for firefighters battling the 3,500- acre North fire that shut down Interstate 15 in the Cajon Pass on Friday, burning cars and stranding motorists. The rain helped push the fire’s containment up to 75% by Sunday morning, with no growth in acreage.
The latest round of storm activity could be a mixed blessing as the fire continues to smolder, said U. S. Forest Service spokeswoman Lyn Sieliet.
“If it brings wind and lightning, it could make thing smore difficult for us,” she said.
“But if it brings light, steady rain, that’s going to be the best- case scenario.”
About 1,300 Southern California E disoncustomers were still without power Sunday afternoon because of the storm, down from a peak of 16,000 on Saturday, Edison spokesman Robert Villegas said.
In Los Angeles, about 1,000 customers remained without power Sunday afternoon, and extra crews and repair equipment were on hand to respond to any additional outages, said Department of Water and Power spokeswoman Kim Hughes.
Los Angeles County lifeguards, who had closed more than 70 miles of crowded coastline and ocean piers Saturday because of thunderstorms, said they were in communication with the National Weather Service as they tracked the storm and would clear the beaches if they heard thunder or saw lightning.
A. J. Lester, ocean lifeguard specialist with the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Lifeguard Division, warned swimmers to stay away from storm drain outfalls for 72 hours after the rain to avoid polluted runoff that has been swept out to shore.
Forecasters expect drier weather by Tuesday.