Crazy Weather in Southern L.A. ...?

Hi Des,

I took my car down to LA for service. spent the night at the Rainbow with wacked out actors and rockers. woke up not knowing were I was, found my rent-a-car (it was still at the Rainbow). left just before the deluge!

Bob

 

yup its true. Left a meeting in Glendale - yesterday afternoon. 2 huge rainbows. It rained quite a bit.

 

I was in Hollywood/Los Feliz before/during/after the downpour. After a rainbow disappeared, I called 3 people on my cellphone because of what I could see - for example, my Fiancee had the day off: "Honey, look out the window" - 'Oh, nice, that's beautiful' - "Now look out the front door." - 'Oh, my God'. "Now, look at the trees. 'Wow! Cool!' Remember, this is after a Rainbow disappeared.

You see, to the West, it was glorious. To the east, however, was a darkness. But the light from the east was still hitting trees, buildings and so forth. Because of that, everything within sight took on whole new appearances, as if the whole of what could be seen was lit by gigantic strobes at night. Killer.

Then I was in the darkness - pitch black. With the eastern glow still clearly visible in my rearview mirror. Rain was minor, though steadily increasing, particularly visible difference in how much rain was coming down, moment-to-moment when travelling Southbound for a few blocks, as it went from a trickle to a pour. Didn't know what was happening in South L.A. 'til I saw the news.

I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of being in Watts. Hope the Watts Towers didn't receive too much damage, though. They're a landmark I'd like to see. But five inches of rain was recorded in just two hours in Southern L.A..

Exact amount of hail? Hard to say - much of it collected on sides of roads after pelting cars/trucks & what-not. Distribution wasn't far and wide - on the weathermap, it appeared to be an angry-looking red, sometimes smaller purple smudge spread for several blocks at times, nonexistent at others, moving north with the rest of the storm.

Feel truly sorry for folks who received serious flood damage. Cars, Trucks - even some SUV's appeared to have water almost to their windowsills - Businesses and Homes. Many folks are out of luck right now. 2 weeks ago, SoCal couldn't get rain to save it's life - yesterday - too much rain coupled with hail. Only in L.A..

 

It was raining off and on all day long yesterday at my house. In fact the power went out over night also.

To bad it did not rain on my day off on tuesday so i could go out and get my motocross bike muddy.

 

I dont know where hail is out here on the WeSt SiDe but down here in Orange County is Sunny and 72 A little bit of clouds but nothing too bad.

Last night it "rained" in OC but being a Texan I only called it drizzle. Californians are such wimps when it comes to rain. They complain about it and cant drive in it. Last night I saw a flash flood warning on TV...Flood with what? 1 inch of rain? My god I guess other parts of LA were much worse off.

 

Just watched news updates - as I predicted to my housemates last night, in so many words:
"The drains in South L.A. weren't cleared. Every year, some section of L.A. County's Wastewater/Drainage gets put on the back burner, and consequently, flooding occurs. 5+ inches of rain or not, this major flood was avoidable at little cost. Now, it looks like it's going to cost quite a bit."
I really feel sorry for folks who suffer the consequences of inaction on part of local government agencies.