When the call reporting a brush fire in Otay Mesa came out Thursday, fire agencies pounced. Not just San Diego Fire-Rescue, but Chula Vista, National City and Coronado. Officials quickly brought in air resources, hand crews and differing types of fire rigs.
To Victoria Hilton, 76, who lives in the Heavenly Oaks Mobile Home Park in the mountain community of Guatay in East San Diego County, the power shutoffs felt like an eternity.
She lost power for two days. She used battery-powered lamps to read at night and bathed in tepid water because her water heater couldn’t operate.
As San Diego enters the driest start to the water year since record keeping began in 1860, the San Diego County Water Authority has the reliable water supplies needed by the region for 2025 and beyond.
“We’ve been preparing for over three decades to have reliable water supplies, whether we’re in a drought or whether we have a wet year,” Water Authority Senior Water Resource Specialist Efren Lopez told CBS 8. “We have a lot of emergency storage in case there’s a disruption to our system.”
With coverage from CBS, KPBS and KUSI/Fox 5, the Water Authority has been informing and updating the public at every available opportunity.
The City of San Diego recorded only 0.14 inches of rain since Oct. 1, when typically it would have received between three and four inches.
While the lack of rain negatively impacts San Diego County’s flora and fauna — including increasing fire risk during the Santa Ana windstorms — the San Diego region doesn’t depend on local rainfall to supply the water that powers our economy and sustains our quality of life. Instead, the region uses a combination of desalinated seawater, conserved water from the Colorado River, recycled water, and runoff from the Sierra.
“San Diegans don’t need to worry about any water restrictions or any conservation mandates — we have plenty of water,” Lopez said.
Meanwhile, Northern California has been relatively wet. That means the state’s six major reservoirs are at 121% of their historical average levels at the beginning of 2025, slightly better than the same time last year. Additionally, the statewide snowpack is 115% of its historical average.
Precipitation over the next few months will be key to determining the state’s overall water supply for 2025. Regardless, the San Diego region has sufficient water for the foreseeable future.
San Diego is facing its driest start to the 24-25 water year with a more than three-inch rainfall deficit and there’s no relief in sight.
With only 0.14 inches of rain since Oct. 1, 2024 to date, this will be the driest start ever to San Diego’s water year which runs from the beginning of October through Sept. 30. Rainfall records date back to 1850.
Even in San Diego, it’s typical to get some rain in the winter. Except this year, the San Diego County Water Authority said it’s the third driest start to the rainy season in 150 years.
Hear from Water Authority Senior Water Resources Specialist Efren Lopez about where San Diego’s water supply stands during this very dry start to the 2025 Water Year.
Maybe we ought to change the name Valley Center to “Shut-off City!”
Besides one holiday shut-down greeting from SDG&E three weeks ago and another post-New Year kick in the teeth this week, add a 10-day water shutdown by the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) that began December 7—to be followed two months later by another shut-down.
The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning through Thursday for San Diego County’s mountains and valleys.
“Our brush is dry, the (humidity) is down, and now we have this wind event,” said Brent Pascua, a battalion chief with Cal Fire. “That’s a prime recipe for a large wildfire.”
San Diego Gas & Electric said early Wednesday that it is rapidly turning off power to many of its customers to help minimize the chances of sparking a wildfire as strong Santa Ana winds continue to lash San Diego County.
Winds gusted more than 40 mph at Camp Pendleton before dawn Wednesday and 80 mph at Palomar Mountain as the first of two large windstorms hit the region. The winds could intensify through mid-morning, according to the National Weather Service. The second wave will arrive late Thursday, and it’s possible a third wave will occur on Sunday.
San Diego County — in the midst of one of the driest periods on record — will be lashed by unusually cold and expansive Santa Ana winds early Wednesday that could spark wildfires, snap trees and knock out power, the National Weather Service said.
The enormous wind storm will shoot into Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties on Tuesday morning, then expand into San Diego County, which hasn’t had significant rain since last spring.
