San Diego inundated as rains bring city’s wettest January day on record
SAN DIEGO – More than a month’s worth of rain fell here on Monday, causing widespread, dangerous flooding in the city’s urban core. It was San Diego’s wettest January day on record and ranked in the top five for wettest days for any time of year since 1850.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria declared a state of emergency Monday afternoon. Areas south of the city were hit particularly hard, and an evacuation center was established for those displaced by flood damage. The wild weather closed numerous roads and schools, and disrupted transit routes. The city’s central library and its police headquarters were also shuttered for the day because of flooding. While there were no reported fatalities as of Monday evening, footage posted online showed submerged cars, as well as vehicles being carried away by floodwaters.
Two to three inches of rain fell in three hours, according to Alex Tardy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego. The intense rains caused tributaries to the San Diego River to overflow, sending debris into the river. The river exceeded its flood stage of 10 feet, cresting at just over 11 feet – flooding nearby sports fields and parking lots and submerging major river crossings. A flood warning was in effect until late Monday.
“This is significant rainfall anywhere, but 2-3 inches in three hours is going to rank up there with probably a 50- to 100-year type flood,” Tardy said in an online update.
The day began with a harrowing morning commute and numerous accidents on freeways amid the downpours. Around 9:30 a.m., San Diego residents received a wireless alert for a flash flood warning that covered much of the county. “This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation,” the message read. “Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order.”
As the rain intensified, city streets began to flood along the harbor, in low-lying urban neighborhoods and in beach communities.
There were reports of water rescues across the county, mainly for drivers caught on flooded roads, along with hundreds of rescues from homes, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
The San Diego Trolley cut rail service to downtown because of inundated routes.
“Due to severe rain, Downtown is flooded. Most trolley service is suspended or there is minimal service,” the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System wrote on its website Monday morning. Some service had been restored by afternoon, but other transit routes were closed or rerouted due to flooding on the San Diego River in Mission Valley, northeast of the city center.
The intense storm helped to pull the city out of precipitation deficits for this season. San Diego is now running above normal for the water year, which began Oct. 1. As of just last week, much of Southern California had only received about 25 to 50 percent of its normal rainfall.
On Monday, the 2.70 inches that fell in San Diego in eight hours exceeded its January average of 1.98 inches. Some spots saw close to 4 inches.
Monday’s deluge was part of a storm system that brought rain and snow to the state over the weekend. The storm intensified over San Diego as a deep layer of moisture converged with a disturbance in the upper atmosphere.
Despite a strong El Niño in the tropical Pacific Ocean, most of California has been running behind on rainfall, with snowpack well below average, mainly due to a lack of bigger storms and atmospheric rivers, combined with warmer temperatures.
Studies have shown that climate change is causing more intense precipitation in the United States, with more rain falling in a single day, because a warmer atmosphere can hold more water.
Confidence is increasing that a major pattern change could bring stronger storms – along with heavy rain and mountain snow – to California at the end of the month, after a brief warm and dry period later this week.