OT: California Rain

[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

 

[Chin Diesel]

 

[Drumguy]

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.

This. jleves, gotta disagree that you have the infrastructure built to handle large rainfalls. You channel water well so any rainfall you get makes small rainfalls become big runoffs.

We're mostly built to handle water in the east, but CA is built for runoff. CA s basically a desert, so the infrastructure is sorely lacking for large rainstorms. The average rainfall in LA is 12". Wesport CT average is 48", We're also susceptible to water issues. Westport (CY) floods a few times a year during thunderstorms and most of the streets that pass under the Metro North train bridges are impassible for a while after a big storm while they drain. Just such a common occurance it's not news.

 

[jleves]

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

Well, with a little more still to come, current 3 day totals for some LA areas:
Bel Air - 15.4"
Topanga Canyon - 11.87"
Downtown LA - 8.14"

Everywhere in socal got more than 3".

 

[Improviser]

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.

It has happened.

youtube dog using toilet - Google Search

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

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...

View Park? West Adams?

 

[Chin Diesel]

Well, with a little more still to come, current 3 day totals for some LA areas:
Bel Air - 15.4"
Topanga Canyon - 11.87"
Downtown LA - 8.14"

Everywhere in socal got more than 3".

Bel Air hadn't seen 14" since good ole Uncle Milton Berle passed away.

 

[EricLA]

View Park? West Adams?

You know your LA neighborhoods. Right next to View Park. Leimert Park...

 

[jleves]

You know your LA neighborhoods. Right next to View Park. Leimert Park...

Good BBQ around there!

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

You know your LA neighborhoods. Right next to View Park. Leimert Park...

I love Ackee Bamboo.

 

[socalhusky]

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

48 hours later this looks like a stupid comment by me. Sorry about that. While, where I live "only" has gotten about 4", there are plenty of areas around LA with 10"+ and more coming. Not good and I hope everyone is safe.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

48 hours later this looks like a stupid comment by me. Sorry about that. While, where I live "only" has gotten about 4", there are plenty of areas around LA with 10"+ and more coming. Not good and I hope everyone is safe.

4" is nothing to be embarrassed about, dude. You'd be a king in Ireland.

 

[superjohn]

4" is nothing to be embarrassed about, dude. You'd be a king in Ireland.

I resent that.

 

[jibsey]

We’ve had rain in Ct. the last few months that has blown that away, I had the basement water to prove it.

 

[jleves]

48 hours later this looks like a stupid comment by me. Sorry about that. While, where I live "only" has gotten about 4", there are plenty of areas around LA with 10"+ and more coming. Not good and I hope everyone is safe.

I always love it when someone steps up and admits a bad take. Unfortunately too few do it. Kudos to you.