Friday, January 22, 2010
A storm in the Los Angeles County, California area has caused reasons for residents in 2009 Station Fire burn areas to evacuate. Californians in these area braced themselves from mudslides and flash floods due to the expected 25 cm (10 in) of rain yesterday. The National Weather Service (NWS) predicted 3.8 cm (1.5 in) per hour in these fire-affected areas.
Charles Beck, Los Angeles Police Department chief, advised residents, “If a Los Angeles police officer comes to your door and tells you to leave: leave. We’re not asking you to leave because we think your lawn’s going to get dirty, we’re not doing it because your carpet’s going to get wet. We’re doing it because your life is at risk.”
Two days prior, the Los Angeles Coast, the NWS issued tornado warnings, a rarity, for the Whittier, South Los Angeles, and and Long Beach areas. There were reports of a tornado touching down at Sunset Beach in Orange County. The tornado reportedly lifted boats from the water. There were other reports of waterspouts in the Pacific Ocean.
Cal State Long Beach closed for the remainder of Wednesday afternoon and will reopen on Friday, January 22. Schools in the La Crescenta and La Cañada Flintridge areas were also closed yesterday.
In other areas of Los Angeles, the rain caused minor flooding and large puddles – storm drains overflowed. This storm hit strong from about 15:00 PST (2300 UTC) to about 16:30 PST (0030 UTC) Wednesday. It started again rather powerfully at about 17:10 PST (0110 UTC).
A Southern California resident preferring to remain unnamed said this in regards to the storm, “I felt that it was a wonderful change from the super hot weather,” in reference to the 26 °C (80 °F) plus temperatures leading into winter.