New Year's Day downpour floods Southern California highways

[ad_1] A uncommon Jan. 1 rainstorm drenched Southern California, triggering slides and main street closures throughout the Los Angeles space, in addition to swift water rescues on San Diego roadways.

Flooding of the 5 Freeway within the San Fernando Valley prompted Caltrans to close down all lanes between Tuxford Road and Lankershim Boulevard for a number of hours, whereas a mudslide closed Huge Tujunga Canyon Highway in Angeles Nationwide Forest between the Angeles Forest Freeway and Vogel Flat Highway — simply the most recent in a protracted record of county street closures as a result of flooding and slides since Dec. 24.

In San Diego, emergency crews labored to rescue motorists who discovered themselves trapped on flooded roadways Thursday. “Our swiftwater rescue groups are actively working to rescue people caught of their vehicles alongside Vogue Valley Rd & Riverwalk Dr.,” learn an announcement from the San Diego Fireplace Division round 10 a.m. “Keep secure, SD. Please keep away from the realm & by no means stroll or drive via floodwaters.”

A San Diego Police Division spokesman mentioned a person and his younger daughter have been caught of their blue Jeep by deep, fast-moving water and rescued with out incident by San Diego Fireplace-Rescue emergency crews.

The storm, which the Nationwide Climate Service described as “very juicy,” started round 3:45 a.m. Thursday. By 10 a.m. it had dumped 1.21 inches of rain on east Pasadena and downtown Los Angeles had obtained 1.33 inches, in keeping with the climate service.

Sometimes, New Yr’s Day is rain-free within the Los Angeles space.

In accordance with the Nationwide Climate Service, rain has fallen on simply 10% of all New Yr’s Days between 1878 and 2025. The file for the vacation was in 1934, when it rained 3.12 inches in Pasadena. That was additionally the 12 months Los Angeles obtained a couple of inch of rain on the primary day of the 12 months.

The Los Angeles space has already seen heavier-than-normal precipitation this wet season, which started Oct. 1.

As of Wednesday, downtown L.A. had already obtained 11.64 inches of rain, which is 7.8 inches above regular, in keeping with meteorologist Mike Wofford of the climate service.

The rainfall appeared to dampen enthusiasm for the 2026 Rose Parade considerably, because the crowds that start filling Pasadena sidewalks hours earlier than Thursday’s procession have been smaller than in years prior.

Those that did attend used umbrellas, ponchos and awnings to guard themselves from the downpour.

Retired USPS letter service Michael Bartley, 66, was preserving heat with a patio heater as he sat beneath an awning at 7 a.m., saving areas for his household at their conventional viewing place at Madison Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. Bartley has attended a couple of dozen parades, and was current the final time it rained on the Rose Parade in 2006.

Bartley drove in from his dwelling in Buckeye, Ariz., on Wednesday and slept in his automobile to safe front-row seating for his household. He wasn’t too bothered by the downpour.

“It’s superb what just a little rain will do.... There’s no one over there,” he mentioned, gesturing to a row of empty folding chairs.

By 10 a.m, the storm seemed to be largely over, in keeping with Wofford. Nonetheless, the sunshine is not going to final. “We’ll be seeing mild rain tomorrow afternoon and night and the start of one other storm coming in over the weekend,” he mentioned.