Rain Storm

Jason and I were watching the news last night and they were talking about the impending rain that was to come today calling it a "storm". Apparently people in southern California scurry under rocks and board up their windows at the first sign of precipitation. We both laughed out loud, these silly L.A.ites, rain is not a storm, we thought.

Well, we were wrong. In L.A. rain is a storm.



There is too much cement and not enough vegetation, the rain has no where to go. There are large cement culverts and big storm drains that are designed to route the water away and keep streets from flooding.

We live on the back side of Mount Hollywood, which does have dirt and vegetation, however a large fire scorched the mountain last year so most of the vegetation is dead.

Dry earth + big down pour + a hillside = Mud slide

Which is what we got today.


Sean and I were woken up from our afternoon nap by sounds of sirens and helicopters. They were right above us so we decided to go out and see what was going on outside.


Remember this picture from yesterdays post, it's a view looking down from our patio.


Well this is what it looks like today. The whole lawn and walkway are underwater and full of mud. I am very glad that I am on the third floor today!



I walked out to the end of the building and found that a little mudslide had made it's way into our bottom floor.





We drove around and found that the North gate of our complex was closed due to a very large mud slide.


This is the top story in L.A. tonight, 12 cars and a semi were stuck in a large mud slide that came down the Hollywood mountain side.


This is (was) a 5 lane road.



According to the news nobody was hurt.



Sean loved watching the backhoe and bulldozer work!



We watched them work for a long time to dig this Toyota out of the mud. They used the backhoe to clear a path, then the firemen had to do a little digging.



They eventually hooked it up to the backhoe and pulled it out.



Here is the owner checking out his mud mobile, poor guy, the water line was half way up the truck.



I wonder if insurance covers this. I feel so bad for this guy, at least the truck drove away (although it didn't sound very good).



I snagged this picture from the local news. It is taken from the opposite vantage.



After one morning of rain, the clouds are parting and the sun is plotting it's return. It is supposed to be back in the 80's early next week.



Humm, after all that mud and muck and destruction I thought you might enjoy a super cute picture of an adorable little boy :) (I'm bias). Here is Sean wearing an apron I made for my niece. I needed to see how it was fitting so I made him try it on for me.




Sarah