Bad weather in California...

[BCBlondie]

It's been raining pretty bad the past couple of days.
Weather.com is giving warning signs now.

...FLOOD STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO CA 1000 PM PST WED DEC 29 2004

... URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY REGION UNTIL MIDNIGHT THURSDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA HAS ISSUED AN URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY. BETWEEN 9 AND 10 PM PST... RAIN RATES OF A HALF INCH PER HOUR OR MORE WERE OBSERVED ACROSS PORTIONS OF MARIN AND NAPA COUNTIES. THESE HEAVY RAIN RATES WERE ASSOCIATED WITH AN INTENSE COLD FRONT THAT IS PRESENTLY PUSHING THROUGH THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA.

THE CENTRAL AND SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO BAY REGION CAN EXPECT A PERIOD OF HEAVY RAIN LATE THIS EVENING JUST PRIOR TO FRONTAL PASSAGE. SOILS ACROSS THE REGION ARE SATURATED FROM RECENT HEAVY RAINS AND SO ANY ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN WILL LEAD TO RAPID RUNOFF. THIS IN TURN WILL CAUSE SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS TO BRIEFLY REACH BANKFULL AND MAY ALSO CAUSE URBAN FLOODING IN LOW LYING AREAS.

Our backyard is soooo wet and muddy right now. It's like stepping into a giant puddle. The soil is also VERY soft...

Look what has happened to my backyard this week...

On Monday:






The dogs are a little confused... "What is the tree doing on the ground??"


Then TONIGHT, I hear a thud outside, so I go out and take a look and this is what I find...


(View from our balcony)



BOTH parts of the tree have fallen. This makes me VERY nervous because if the soil is that soggy, what would happen if our neighbor's giant redwood tree fell over too?? *gulps*

Please keep Cali in your thoughts... so it stops raining soon! (I know it's nothing compared to the tsunami and the Florida hurricanes, but still... lol)

[Kfamr]

Now you all know how Florida feels. That happened all over our neighborhood for weeks.


Hopefully you all stay safe!

[NoahsMommy]

A huge Eucalyptus tree fell down on Tuesday on three balconies...it just missed ours. My whole complex floods each night...fun stuff!

There have been flood warnings each night for us this week. And there was a TORNADO on Catalina Island!

Do you have Weatherbug Blondie?? I have it on my computer at home, so I have constant temp and weather updates.

Hope you stay safe. Those big trees are scary when they come down.

[bckrazy]

oh no, Di! It's been really windy and rainy for the past few days here. None of our trees fell down, but our *new* fence did so we had to get some one to come out yesterday and re-do it . I'm really sorry, it looks like that was a pretty tree too. eww.. I hate the rain! our backyard is a huge mud puddle too.. I really hope it stops raining, and you guys don't have any floods

[Giselle]

This sucks...Thankfully, the trees around us have held strong. I'm a teeny bit worried because our house in encased in Oak and redwood trees (and other miscellaneous trees which I don't feel like identifying). Oh yeah, and rows and rows of Eucalyptus. Let's hope there's no lightening!

[flamepony12]

where in CA do you live? I live in Agoura Hills and it is sopping wet. litterally. There's supposed to be another storm coming tomorrow.

[NoahsMommy]

How's your yard today, Di??

Our complex it totally flooded! I'm so glad I live upstairs!! Our garage is downstairs (duh, Kelly!) and had about 2 inches of water in it. That was fun walking to my car!!

I love the rain though, so I'm enjoying this.

How are your trees???

[popcornbird]

The weather has been AWFUL all week. AWFUL!!! My cousins are over from Chicago. They're complaining about how California is not the 'Sunny California' they thought it would be. What's with CA and making 'Chicagoians' think its always rainy here? When Sara (Edwina's Secretary) moved to CA, it was raining too. He he he. My cousins loved it here anyway, despite the bad weather. I just wish we had nicer weather. Would've been much more enjoyable when we went out places. At least we got a few 'rain breaks' to actually go somewhere a couple of times.

[ChrisH]

Hope the rain has eased now and you are all safe.

Originally posted by NoahsMommy
... There have been flood warnings each night for us this week. And there was a TORNADO on Catalina Island!

Kelly, there was a tornado here in Wales last week. (In the south-west, I live in the north-east)

Tornado damages houses
Roofs were blown off houses, a lamp post knocked over and windows blown out by a tornado in Haverfordwest on Monday night, firefighters have said. The whirlwind struck more than 20 homes on the Priory Estate, Hawthorn Drive and Spencer Way just before 2200 GMT. Firefighters spent hours making the properties safe and clearing the debris on Monday and Tuesday.

John Davies, who lives on the Priory Estate, said it was "a general scene of destruction". "It has gone through in a line, taken slates off, smashed tiles into cars and gone through windows," he said. "I had a car parked in the drive - tiles came off the roof and gone through the sunlight roof and also the windscreen."

Phillip Rees said he was sitting in his dining room with his two children when the tornado struck. "All of sudden you could hear this noise - both the children were petrified," he said. "It was just this fantastic roar that seemed to increase then just died instantly. I know there are a few houses where the windows have actually gone in."

Gethin Davies, the fire service's county commander for Carmarthenshire, said firefighters had been involved in securing properties and removing debris. "With severe weather and increased winds, about 25 properties were affected," he said. "We also had a tree and a lamp post blown down. It lasted about an hour."

A Met Office spokesman said tornadoes could be so localised they only affect one or two streets. "The ones that happen in the US are on a much larger scale than the ones which happen in the UK," he said. "But we do have a few reports of tornados in Wales and the south west of England each year."

Earlier this year, a tornado was spotted off the coast of Barry, south Wales.

Story from BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/4129561.stm

[Tonya]

I know, it's horrible! It was sunny and beautiful for a few hours yesterday, but it went back to raining. Our backyard isn't level, so we have a lake going on out there. We were laughing because there was a HUGE (like 3 ft long) dog bone in the middle of the lake (Dusty's Christmas present.) Well, Sarah (our little pom) saw it and ran out to get it. It was dark, so she didn't see the lake...hehe...she was chin deep in water. She flew out so fast, it looked like a cat in a bathtub. Taught her a lesson.