OT: California Rain

[Improviser]

Any of the Yarders Affected by the torrential rains?

Hope all will be safe and get through this horrible ongoing event!

 

[jleves]

The direction of the storm means the mountains will take a lot of the brunt out before it gets to us, so we aren't as bad as many areas around us. I've seen up to 14" of rain predicted for parts of LA by Tuesday. Ours looks like this:

 

[socalhusky]

The direction of the storm means the mountains will take a lot of the brunt out before it gets to us, so we aren't as bad as many areas around us. I've seen up to 14" of rain predicted for parts of LA by Tuesday. Ours looks like this:
View attachment 96072

14” ? I don’t think so. Maybe 3” which is plenty. Back away from the ark Noah

 

[Gurleyman]

All good where I am. Just wet.

it has been a really, really dry winter in the Sierra Mountains, right when we got out of the drought after an historic winter last year, so it’s at least welcome to get some heavy snow up there.

 

[dvegas]

California Rain, California Sober, what is becoming of the Golden State?

---

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

My kids’ school was just cancelled. My wife was not a fan of my “it’s just rain” response. So I’m rewatching the St. John’s game by myself in the living room.

 

[Chin Diesel]

My kids’ school was just cancelled. My wife was not a fan of my “it’s just rain” response. So I’m rewatching the St. John’s game by myself in the living room.

Chess, not checkers.

 

[Conquistador]

Yep, out here in the Bay Area. Lost power couple times for a couple minutes. Other than that, not bad.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Chess, not checkers.

“No, don’t go upstairs! C’mon! Don’t leave me down here with the tv and the snacks by myself.”

 

[Rocktheworld]

I know we have a solid SD contingent here. I’ve seen some wild videos over the last few weeks of multiple areas (besides the obvious spots in mission valley) totally inundated. Hope you all are okay

 

[UCann]

Bay Area - lots of rain and pretty strong winds. Lost power for most of the day, back on now. Doesn’t seem particularly dangerous though there were some downed trees and branches. Feel like we would get these kinds of storms all the time in CT but power wouldn’t go out as easily.

 

[SoCalCanine]

I am on the SoCal coast just north of LA and Malibu. Flash flood and high wind warnings but where I am is flat, so no real worries personally. I might get some seepage into my garage. We were SUPPOSED to have all our windows replaced tomorrow, that ain't happening. Maybe later in the week?

 

[temery]

would you prefer

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Well, power's out. Sweet.

 

[uconnfan68]

Well, power's out. Sweet.

Good luck.

 

[Drumguy]

Well, power's out. Sweet.

My son's house in Napa has been out for over 24 hours. A bunch of Redwoods and large pines took out his neighborhood wires.

 

[Zanzman]

Well, power's out. Sweet.

Don't go upstairs

 

[cohenzone]

I was here in LA visiting my son and fam. Right now at LAX waiting for on time flight to Newark. We lost power for 9 hours last night and since the rains started a few months ago he has been getting water through a crawl space leaking into a basement room. he installed a sump pump which was fine until the power blew. He has no generator, soon to be remedied. Spent most of the night bailing water occasionally. No trouble getting to the airport from Westwood.

 

[cohenzone]

She usually watches with you?

 

[HuskyHawk]

My kids’ school was just cancelled. My wife was not a fan of my “it’s just rain” response. So I’m rewatching the St. John’s game by myself in the living room.

Am I wrong in my belief that the complete lack of infrastructure to deal with this is what makes it an issue? Also the dry ground causing run-off. Even in NoCal there were no storm drains anywhere. Highway 17 from Los Gatos to Santa Cruz was a death trap on rainy winter days.

Hope the region holds up well without too much damage and no loss of life.

 

[Drumguy]

Am I wrong in my belief that the complete lack of infrastructure to deal with this is what makes it an issue? Also the dry ground causing run-off. Even in NoCal there were no storm drains anywhere. Highway 17 from Los Gatos to Santa Cruz was a death trap on rainy winter days.

Hope the region holds up well without too much damage and no loss of life.

Yes, they aren't built to deal wih rain of any quantity; Downtown Napa used to flood all the time even without the big rains. They reworked the river through town and added flood gates, which has resulted in a huge boom in downtown Napa actually! Good thing with all this rain!

 

[EricSD]

I live in LA (duh) and love the rain. I'm smack in the middle of the city (between Culver City and USC) and where i live is flat. Also I'm fortunate that my roof is fairly new and the exterior had all new stucco put on when I did my additions, so aside from it being wet and "puddly", it's not an issue.

Side note - I found a dog in my backyard 2 weeks ago. Really sweet 3 year old lab/shepherd mix. Working on getting him fixed so I can rehome him. BUT he's a big baby about the water and pooped in my bathroom cuz he didn't want to go outside. It's been raining pretty hard non-stop for a good while now. In fairness, i wasn't thrilled about going outside either, but I'm toilet trained so...

 

[uconnfan68]

Am I wrong in my belief that the complete lack of infrastructure to deal with this is what makes it an issue? Also the dry ground causing run-off. Even in NoCal there were no storm drains anywhere. Highway 17 from Los Gatos to Santa Cruz was a death trap on rainy winter days.

Hope the region holds up well without too much damage and no loss of life.

This is basically 100+ yr rainfall. I remember San Diego having flood control channels in/near river beds, but we never had much rain in the 4 yrs I was there.

 

[jleves]

Am I wrong in my belief that the complete lack of infrastructure to deal with this is what makes it an issue? Also the dry ground causing run-off.

Yes, they aren't built to deal wih rain of any quantity;

I've read this a few times on the boneyard and well, it's just wrong. All of our 'rivers' are concrete to deal with run off, Certain streets have 18" high curbs to act as run off corridors. There are massive storm drains. There are huge areas for holding storm water. The infrastructure is there.

There is only so much you can do when 1) the soil isn't the type that will hold a lot of moisture and 2) you are surrounded by hundreds of miles of mountains up to 10,000ft tall that all run into LA and 3) you get rain rates of over an inch an hour from the super saturated warm pacific ocean.

We are in fact built to deal with huge rainfalls. But just like you can't build everything in the gulf to survive a direct hit from a cat 5, you can't get enough infrastructure to deal with the really massive storms. And hillsides have been sliding for millions of years - it's in their nature. Back east just dealt with it a long long time ago compared to the west.

 

[UConnRock]

My ignorant view of California…..everything is an extreme. It is either droughts and wild fires, of floods and mudslides. I guess it is what we get in the news that leads to that mindset.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I've read this a few times on the boneyard and well, it's just wrong. All of our 'rivers' are concrete to deal with run off, Certain streets have 18" high curbs to act as run off corridors. There are massive storm drains. There are huge areas for holding storm water. The infrastructure is there.

There is only so much you can do when 1) the soil isn't the type that will hold a lot of moisture and 2) you are surrounded by hundreds of miles of mountains up to 10,000ft tall that all run into LA and 3) you get rain rates of over an inch an hour from the super saturated warm pacific ocean.

We are in fact built to deal with huge rainfalls. But just like you can't build everything in the gulf to survive a direct hit from a cat 5, you can't get enough infrastructure to deal with the really massive storms. And hillsides have been sliding for millions of years - it's in their nature. Back east just dealt with it a long long time ago compared to the west.

Which is why I asked the question. There aren't the usual storm drains every 50 yards we have in New England. So it's still not the infrastructure to deal with the rain much of the country gets routinely. I realize the ground is hard and that causes run-off, but didn't it just rain a lot recently? Was hoping that helped make it more absorbative.

I completely appreciate the mountains, that's why Vermont took so much damage from Irene, the mountains funnel the water. So it's not just volume, but speed of flow. When I lived in Lawrence, we had a huge, huge flood, but the Kansas river mostly spreads out over miles. In Vermont, the White River became a raging force of destruction.

Hoping for the best for SoCal.

 

[CL82]

I live in LA (duh) and love the rain. I'm smack in the middle of the city (between Culver City and USC) and where i live is flat. Also I'm fortunate that my roof is fairly new and the exterior had all new stucco put on when I did my additions, so aside from it being wet and "puddly", it's not an issue.

Side note - I found a dog in my backyard 2 weeks ago. Really sweet 3 year old lab/shepherd mix. Working on getting him fixed so I can rehome him. BUT he's a big baby about the water and pooped in my bathroom cuz he didn't want to go outside. It's been raining pretty hard non-stop for a good while now. In fairness, i wasn't thrilled about going outside either, but I'm toilet trained so...

Well, he pooped in the bathroom so he's already most of the way there. Now you just need to have him climb up on the toilet.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

14” ? I don’t think so. Maybe 3” which is plenty. Back away from the ark Noah

I do. So Cal always gets killed during El Nino winter months. Look it up, it’s happened before.

 

[Chin Diesel]

My ignorant view of California…..everything is an extreme. It is either droughts and wild fires, of floods and mudslides. I guess it is what we get in the news that leads to that mindset.

There are still almost 38 million living in California and many of the locations with the most stunning views are most suspectible to heavy rains, winds, wildfires, etc.
And, as @jleves said, you can only engineer so much against mother nature.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I've read this a few times on the boneyard and well, it's just wrong. All of our 'rivers' are concrete to deal with run off, Certain streets have 18" high curbs to act as run off corridors. There are massive storm drains. There are huge areas for holding storm water. The infrastructure is there.

There is only so much you can do when 1) the soil isn't the type that will hold a lot of moisture and 2) you are surrounded by hundreds of miles of mountains up to 10,000ft tall that all run into LA and 3) you get rain rates of over an inch an hour from the super saturated warm pacific ocean.

We are in fact built to deal with huge rainfalls. But just like you can't build everything in the gulf to survive a direct hit from a cat 5, you can't get enough infrastructure to deal with the really massive storms. And hillsides have been sliding for millions of years - it's in their nature. Back east just dealt with it a long long time ago compared to the west.

Lived in San Diego for seven years. Roads along the inland valleys and even some beach towns become flooded with anything more than a half inch of rain. Granted, that is a rare enough occurrence such that I wouldn’t expect great preparedness; but in my opinion it is certainly lacking