Rivers and flood channels are again flowing hard across San Diego County after a new Pacific storm moved through the region before dawn Thursday, bringing a fifth straight day of precipitation.
The extraordinary plume of subtropical moisture that moved ashore Monday was continuing to drench San Diego County Tuesday morning in what could turn out to be nearly a week’s worth of messy weather.
Beyond evacuations, mudslides, outages and road flooding, the atmospheric river that drenched Southern California over the last few days brought eye-popping rainfall totals to the region — with still more to come Tuesday.
The massive storm moving into Southern California is slowing down and gaining strength and will likely drop 2 to 4 inches of rain across San Diego County between late Monday afternoon to late Tuesday night, the National Weather Service said.
Another powerful storm arrived in Southern California with at least three straight days of rain in the forecast for San Diego County, and authorities warning of potentially dangerous flooding Monday.
Additional swift-water rescue teams and assistance from the U.S. National Guard will be on tap when the next big storm arrives Thursday, officials said Tuesday, even as many worked to recover from the flash flood that upended so many lives just eight days ago.
The San Diego River is prone to flooding, especially during conditions like Thursday’s expected storm. Hundreds of unhoused people living along the riverbed are especially vulnerable to rising waters. It was a race against time on Wednesday to ensure everybody knows it.
National Weather Service offices and other reputable meteorologists in California have been doing rumor control about the coming stormy period. Chatter on social media from unreliable sources had implied that the entire state will soon be underwater.
A cold Pacific storm will drop 2 to 2.5 inches of rain across much of San Diego County from Thursday morning to Friday afternoon, possibly causing heavy runoff in a region still recovering from last week’s damaging, storm-induced flooding, the National Weather Service said.
Southern California may have just experienced a historic amount of rainfall, but more extreme precipitation is headed toward the region. More than a month’s worth of rain fell in a span of three hours in San Diego on Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
