You Spin Me Right 'Round Baby (Tornado in LA?)
 

Wow. The weather service just announced a Tornado warning for South Central LA, including Long Beach. :eek: (I didn't even think that was possible here.)

Hope everyone stays safe!

Now Orange County too.

Dude. I left Iowa over 10 years ago. This is nuts.

So YOU brought the tornado here? Damn you vile woman!

OK, I know it's remote change but I am freaking out a bit. I have no real inside walls. Bathroom is on an outside wall. Middle, corner unit (garages below, apartment above).

Like many things in life, ext ream weather is more fun when it's happening somewhere else.

Keep your heads down.

Tornadoes in SoCal tend to take the form of water spouts by the beaches. If you can't see the Pacific from the window, you're very very unlikely to have anything to worry about.

The warning has been extended in OC until 2:15. The cell is right over Laguna Beach. I am directly east of Laguna.

EVERYBODY PANIC!

Or is it

DON'T PANIC

Cell cloud = not a big deal. Wall cloud = somewhat a cause for concern.

The wall cloud looks like a large distinct mass that drops below a flat-bottomed cloud. Here's a pic.

And wall clouds do not always produce tornadoes.

I see blue skies amidst solid gray. And it stopped raining. Either it moved east or it's the calm before all hell breaks loose. Either way there's not a damn thing I can do about it.

Now it's blue skies and sun. I like this much better.

Sure there is: have a drink!

Auntie Em, Auntie Em!

I'll drink to that. :cheers:

!

:snap: :snap: :snap: Visable mojo Brad!

Well, that was fun.

We had a deluge around 1:00 that dumped so much water on the street that the drains couldn't handle it. The walkway drain above the store overflowed and water started pouring into the store in several places. Meanwhile, the street and alley flooded. Water came in through the back door and flooded our grooming room. Fortunately, we are on the "high" side of the street so no water came in the front. Across the street, water was up over the sidewalk and pouring into the bank and the cupcake store.

So, I spent the day mopping, moving stuff and covering things with plastic so that, when it starts raining again tonight, we won't have any damage to stock. I can't wait to see what happened overnight.

The tornado hit just South of us in Huntington Harbor.

Here's the view down our street a little while ago...

Almost forgot, a sad little scene from yesterday- a trashcan full of discarded umbrellas and ponchos at the Metro station- it was insanely windy, and I saw several peoples umbrellas destroyed just as they exited the subway escalators.

Oy! I hope your store stays dry and there is minimal damage to all stores in the area.

I just got off the phone with my parents who live less than a mile from the harbor. They said a water spout flipped a boat and trees were down in their neighborhood from the wind (but not the tornado)

This says the tornado touched down in Sunset Beach.

I guess water spout is a tornado that isn't on land?

I must publicly thank T for talking me down. While part of the storm cell was over Long Beach the other part was directly west of me and I made the mistake of turning on the news which said "if you live by the El Toro Y now is the time to take shelter" (vs. "If you live by the Y now is the time to get your ass inside") My fault, I know. They were making it sound like something out of Night of the Twisters or Twister. But I freaked the F out. Mainly I was worried about my parents who were disturbing blase about it.

(note to self) Call grandma tomorrow.

Try not to worry to much. Dad said it's clear in HB now and there was some wind damage but no rouge tornado or water spouts.

Not near HB but it was clear all the way from Honda Center to the 133 then it started pouring right when I got off the 5. It's supposed to start raining again later tomorrow.

It rained a bit more tonight but not like it did this afternoon. The next heavy rainfall is supposed to be between three and 6 tomorrow but the forecast says rain from 6 am onward.

The pictures from Long Beach today have been pretty intense.

This is near 7th and Ximeno.


The worst flooding was just northwest of here where the water was waist high.

OH MY!

Check the drains and make sure they're clear of debris everyone! That's a lot of water.

We flood every year on the streets near my office. Too much dirt and sand gets washed into the drains. Even though they clean them regularly - it's just not often enough and the streets flood. There is literally no way in or out of work without driving through a flooded street.

When I first worked here I was afraid to drive through. Now though - we all just drive slowly and go for it. There's no other way to get here.

My daughter had trouble getting home on the bus. They couldn't find a street to get through on that wasn't covered in mud and debris if not water.

More fun today.

I would just love to be home, sitting with a nice warm fire and blanket and something warm to drink, and watch the weather out the front windows - especially if there's lightening and thunder!

But out in it? Blech.

Hope your store did okay overnight.

Wow! That's right by us! I'm glad we live at the top of the hill, and not the bottom (where this was taken). Everything drains away from us.

Holy Carp! That's just weird, seeing Long Beach inundated like that. It looks like Washington State in the spring. Everyone stay safe, and stay dry!

Ack - my godparents live in Long Beach and have a house on Napels Island - hope theirs is ok. I think they're out of the country.

Naples is ok.

Some more Long Beach flood photos here.

Wilson High School:

Yeah... Wilson is on low ground between two hills. I have to drive right by there on 7th to get home. Oy.

How are things in Long Beach right now.....Garden Grove is basically a lake.

Lifted this from Twitter http://twitpic.com/yyjzz it's supposedly 17th street in Costa Mesa

It hasn't started pouring here yet. But it's coming. I'm glad I live on high ground. Now just crossing my fingers that the leaks they fixed around the solartubes last storm hold up.

Our building has been having sewer issues since last night. This morning, the courtyard was flooded with raw sewage.

This is a bad time to be on the bottom floor, because whenever our upstairs neighbor flushes, it comes up in our toilets. :(

Although, I was finally able to flush ours about an hour ago. I pray it stays cleared now.

From the photo at Wilson High School. Curious who saw the car and said "Hey, it might help if we open the door."

Perhaps it was, "Oh no, my favorite CD is in there, lemme just open the door to grab it....oh crap, now there's water in there, what do I do now??! Better leave it open so it can drain!"

Don't know how water tight the car would be, but if it wasn't equal level and I really needed something out of the car I think I'd break the window instead.

Just stick a branch through the window for insurance purposes.

Also, visual evidence that waters obeys no street signs.

Main Street USA flooded

I think We need to start gathering gopher wood...

Pouring here now. One small window leak so far. Hopefully that's it.

What pier is that?

That's Huntington Beach

I think that was taken yesterday.

Our lawn is now saturated and not absorbing anymore water so our front walkway is now one long river, it should be interesting to see the next phase as this storm system plays out.

I came in to a wet store but nothing more was damaged (thanks to the plastic I draped over everything). The plumber, the roofer and the contracter all converged at the same time this morning and, after making several large holes in the ceiling and wall, discovered where the water was coming from. The ceiling was holding so much water, it took quite a while for all of it to run out. They did a temporary fix but it still leaked a bit at the height of today's storm. I'm sure there will be more fun tomorrow.

Is tomorrow supposed to be the worst of it? Or was that yesterday? Or perhaps today?

It's a light drizzle here now. The parking lot was starting to flood but it's designed in a way that it all slopes to the storm drains. As long as those stay clear we should be ok.

Yesterday was by far the worst of it in Long Beach. What tomorrow is supposed to bring - who knows. More inside rain, I suppose.

If tomorrow is worse than yesterday I'll be looking for the ark.

The morning weather report claimed the worst of it is supposed to start tonight and carry through to tomorrow.

I'm really happy to be in a non-flooding zone. So far nothing's leaking or inappropriately damp. Nice to hear the rain pounding last night.

Fan-freeking-tastic. At least I don't have to drive anywhere. Yesterday was so bad that I'm a bit anxious about tomorrow.

Apparently this image is from 2005. Source. Sorry for not verifying. I didn't remember insane weather back then.

Jeez. This is what happens when winter waits till freaking January to arrive...

Well since Winter technically starts at the end of December that kinda makes sense. We've still got 2 months of Winter to go.

It's still raining.

Same up here, although the wind has died down, for the time being

It was, but it stopped. I'm sure it will start again.