Wednesday, December 22, 2010

And More Rain...


More than 3.6 inches of it, last night alone. We woke to the news that downtown Laguna Beach was under 3 - 4 feet of water. The canyon was closed. The newspaper (again, for the third day in a row, despite repeated pleas, was not delivered.)

Horrors! Can you imagine the human misery!

Seriously, we were lucky, of course. Just a small leak in Ellie's studio. I managed to mop up the water with the aid of just a few beach towels.

Determined not to be outdone by the weather, we set off in search of a replacement for our missing New York Times. The village was out of the question, so we drove south at risk of life and limb, and eventually found a Starbucks on Crown Valley Parkway. NYT in hand, we found the sky clearing as we drove back north toward the village, so we decided to see how close we could get to downtown before the streets were closed; and in fact found a parking place just a couple of blocks from the main street, Forest Avenue.

The water, by this time, had subsided, but there was clear evidence of its power, flowing down the canyon to the ocean. Here's a couple of shots of the main shopping street:



Here's a view of the Pacific Coast Highway, closed by the mud flows:



The boardwalk, with the main life guard station:


The Pacific Ocean, where the runoff from the canyon creek runs through the main beach:



The High School track:


And the bottom of our own street, also blocked by mud. A few cars, we were told, had been swept down the hill.



So that was our adventure for the day. The skies are clearing now. The sun is breaking through the clouds. Hope you're dryer than we are!

4 comments:

khengsiong said...

This is going to be a Wet Christmas for Californians...

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you posted, I've been thinking about you and Ellie. Your photos are fantastic and capture the deluge quite well. Glad that things are okay for you and the sun returned. What a a crazy weather event!

Jean said...

Very glad to hear that you have not been flooded. I thought of you at once when our news bulletin included a mention of flooding in Laguna Beach. An interesting and on the whole welcome, though sometimes of course worrying, effect of blogging is that I more often know someone in far off places mentioned in the news.

CHI SPHERE said...

My boys and I are pleased by the rain for we've planned a snowboard trip to Big Bear beginning Christmas day.

No tree or presents just each others company in the snow and trees on our local watersheds. Looking towards a powder white Christmas and glorious desert flower filled spring this year.

Peace and blessing to all humankind from Gary, Cole, Skyler, JoAnn and our dog Juno!