United States: For a relatively dry San Diego, winter storms are mostly a “miss” case, but a Pacific front strike on Monday stunned California’s second-largest city, even when a little rain was expected.
It was the third of three Pacific storms that hit the west coast since Friday. The first storm bypassed the region, and the second one soaked the region with only about one-third of an inch of relatively warm rain. The city then received the third, which was also predicted to be very damaging.
Recorded as the wettest day of all time!
According to the National Weather Service, it was the wettest January day of all time ever recorded in San Diego.
After about 100 homes were in some way impacted by the seasonal flooding, a high school within city limits was deployed as an emergency shelter, stated Mayor Todd Gloria, who “due to extreme rainfall and flash flooding” declared a state of emergency, reported by NBC News.
In the videos posted on social media, it can be seen that cars are being swept away by the fast-moving waters on roads that have turned into rivers.
Devastation and havoc caused by the storm
As per the authorities, the most hit areas were Tijuana and other parts of northern Baja California. By US Customs and Border Protection agents and San Diego Fire Department rescuers, at least eight migrants were rescued, who got endangered by the floodwaters of the Tijuana River Valley on the US side.
According to NBC San Diego reports and the authorities, residents of an apartment complex in the Southcrest neighbourhood just southeast of downtown were rescued by firefighters when standing water covered their area rapidly. No injuries were reported so far.
Reports by the Navy Base San Diego, south of downtown, stated that in the late morning, a thick cell of precipitation moved over the area and put multiple streets and Interstate 15 while moving towards Las Vegas under enough water covering multiple streets and roads, as reported by NBC News.
Navy officials advised that individuals on base should take shelter in their present location while they tried moving incoming and outgoing traffic to areas of the base that weren’t temporarily united with adjacent San Diego Bay.
In the northern part of San Diego County, State Route 78 was closed east of Oceanside city, where lanes were buried in water following heavy rains. On Monday night, the eastbound lanes were closed by the California Transportation Department.
The picture was similar throughout the region as the storm pulled moisture from the Pacific and created an atmospheric river, referred to by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as “rivers in the sky,” which resulted in a once-in-a-generation impact.
Storm reminds us of an El Nino incident in the past!
The storm reflected the upheaval of El Nino in 1983 or 1998- both considered the classic years for a rainy weather phenomenon that caused heavy flooding, sizable surf, and even weeks of snow in Southern California.
The storm on Monday spun along the coast in a counter-clockwise direction and struck northern Baja California, giving San Diego just a glancing but still fierce blow, said Brandt Maxwell, NWS meteorologist.
Employing the strong atmospheric river along with unstable air, composed of a warm atmosphere running into colder regions, Maxwell said that both permanent features- long tail jet stream and storm usually aimed at much farther north.
Maxwell said San Diego’s rain amounts had been well below what is called normal in this season, which started on October 1. However, this single blow caused the city to receive an above-normal amount for the year.
Although roughly half of the rainy season remains, and average annual precipitation is almost 10 inches, The storm provided San Diego with enough rain to raise its season-to-date precipitation amount just below 5 inches for the entire year, Maxwell noted, reported NBC News.
For things to return to normal or even produce an above-normal year of precipitation that would merit predictions of a wet El Niño year in California, more days like this have got to be seen along the Southern California coast.
Advises given by the regional authorities
Last Monday, Mayor Gloria encouraged people to avoid the road. Schools in adjacent La Mesa and Spring Valley had stated that the classrooms would be closed on Tuesday.
Gloria said at a news conference early Tuesday at Lincoln High School, which is being used as the shelter in San Diego, “This weather event was predicted, in terms of rain, but the amount of rain in the short amount of time was a bit of a surprise to, I think, everybody,” NBC News reported.
Regional CEO for the American Red Cross Southern California Region, Sean Mahoney, said the shelter would be able to house 375 people, providing hot meals and mental health support. Two homeless centers have been relocated. Gloria added, “We’re used to snow, but not this much snow,’ or, ‘We’re used to rain but not this much rain.’ These unusual weather patterns that are really beyond people’s typical experience… it’s exactly what all of us are describing and why so many of us are so active on the issue of climate change.”