***West coast Du'ers, and this includes Northern Baja**

[nadinbrzezinski]

Tune out of Haiti and TUNE IN to local civil defense

This is the worst storm in ten years (rather series of storms)

Make sure you have enough supplies to make it if need be.

This includes things like batteries and flashlights, power might become a problem with wind speeds, so losing power is possible.

If you need to drive in this muck, TAKE EXTRA TIME and please for god sakes SLOW DOWN.

You may have to take alternate routes for flooded streets.

Listen for orders to boogey in areas that tend to flood, or for mudslides. If given the order to evac, DO SO.

Avoid entering flood zones... it may not look like it is moving fast, but it just may and you can die.

These are just reminders... and do take care,

[WilliamPitt]

1. LA Times link

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/01/rains-worsen-this-afternoon-prompting-flooding-fears-power-outages-traffic-troubles.html

Good luck, all. :hug:

[David Zephyr]

7. You are just swell thinking about us out here. Thursday we really get hit.

And my beloved William, don't fret, those of us who are upset with Obama for many things are sick in our guts over your big election tomorrow.

I love Massachusetts almost as much as I love California and the very good people of Massachsusetts will elect Coakley tomorrow. I think voters are just griping to pollsters privately, but they will not elect this monster to the Senate. Coakely will win. And when you ever come back this way, please let me and Carlos take you to dinner in Beverly Hills.

[WilliamPitt]

14. Count on it.

:hug:

[BeHereNow]

11. Thanks Will. It's making me a nervous wreck.

I'm so worried about all the homeless people
under the bridges.
BHN

[haele]

18. We have some good swift water rescue teams, at least down here in San Diego

Yesterday, I noticed the river was high by Qualcomm, which is not a good sign right now. The encampments in the valleys and the Tijuana River Basin are going to be in trouble. The canyons, not so bad. I saw a lot of homeless movement earlier across Friars Road when I was running errands by Mission Valley; I suspect many are already moving to higher ground.
The guy across the street is a volunteer lifeguard/water rescue team member; he's already on alert.
Those of us on the mesas are already getting hit with wind damage. I've already cobbled up some shelter for the semi-feral that's adopted us on our rather open porch, where he hangs out. The rain hasn't really started yet. I'm not looking forward to tonight and tomorrow.

Haele

[BeHereNow]

22. I think they pretty good here in Los Angeles- but we do lose some now and then.

The rain has pretty much stopped here, but the wind is terrible!
I want to go stock up on some stuff but hate the thought
of going out there.

Stay safe dear Haele!

BHN

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Yes they are

damn you are close to where I live.

Not looking forwards to two scared conures

As to the homeless, I just hope the shelters are open and the few that hate them will actually avail of them,

[goclark]

66. Me too ~ it really rained pretty hard today in LA

[Ian David]

2. Here's a link: California readies for onslaught of storms

By William M. Welch and Doyle Rice, USA TODAY

LOS ANGELES — Residents of canyons and foothills braced for possible mudslides as a series of powerful storms is forecast to begin pounding the West Coast today with heavy rain and snow, strong winds and high surf.

National Weather Service meteorologist Jamie Meier said the foothills and mountain areas around Los Angeles could receive 8 to 16 inches of rain this week.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies went door-to-door Sunday, warning residents in the most vulnerable areas that they should leave for safer ground when the rains start and before mandatory evacuations are issued, Lt. Angela Shepherd said. Those homes are in areas stripped of vegetation and left susceptible to slides of mud, ash, rock and debris by massive wildfires last year.

<snip>

High surf and big swells were forecast to accompany the storms, and in Northern California, the Coast Guard and state officials urged boaters to avoid the water this week. Waves reaching 25 feet were predicted. Inland, heavy snow was forecast for higher elevations, and forecasters said coastal and urban flooding was possible in parts of Southern California.

More:
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2010-01-18-California-weather_N.htm

I'm gonna go to MeetUp.com and schedule a camp-out for teabaggers on the beach for the first day of the storms.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Absolutely right...

Luckily, I am not in a slide zone, nor are any of my family.

But wow, it's pouring, and the wind is ferocious...

And it's only going to get worse this week.

We're OK on the power front; we have a generator.

Thanks for the heads-up, Nadia...

:fistbump:

[malaise]

10. Stay safe

:grouphug:

[babylonsister]

4. And I'm sitting in the Baja as you type. Some

week to go visiting. :eyes: Hope to get out tomorrow, but no rain here yet (Rosarito).

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Emergency number down there is 066

not 9.11

always handy to know

[haele]

5. Especially those of you in the outlaying areas, valleys, or burn areas -

This is a nasty. Stay off the roads at dark; even with street lights, you can't see a tree coming down unless you're on hyper scan alert. Last time we had gusts of this magnitude, I nearly lost the front end of the car to a falling tree in the median of a main city street; if I hadn't been looking for any sign of movement in front of me, I would have gotten hit.

And watch out for the idiots.

Haele

[Mz Pip]

6. We had quite a downpour

earlier today. Huge rainstorm with lots of wind.

It's quieted down; not raining but still windy.

Mz Pip

[JVS]

8. K&R

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

12. So far in the bay area it hasn't been that bad.

Rain, wind, but nothing out of the ordinary for a winter storm. I expect that to change, though.

[wiggs]

13. Thank you, good advice. Looks pretty serious outside...I'm sure this is going to be a big

problem for lots of folks.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. It will be and I hope the at risk homeless

are taken to shelters...

[wiggs]

23. In Laguna...the City erected decent temp buildings for year round shelter. Unfortunately, they

are in Laguna Canyon which can flood. They are above the road a bit and if they get flooded then many many others lower down have been flooded first.

[msongs]

16. so far just ordinary run of the mill winter front passage in riverside. nt

[inna]

17. same here, in san francisco.

[XemaSab]

52. Same here in Redding

:shrug:

[WillyT]

19. Big K & R !!!

Stay safe everybody!

:grouphug:

[Garbo 2004]

20. 106 homes in the Paradise Valley area are being evacuated; some SoCal power outages too.

And the series of storms is just beginning.

The Associated Press
Monday, January 18, 2010; 5:23 PM

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. -- Southern California authorities have ordered the evacuation of more than 100 homes as heavy rains pound a neighborhood just below an area scarred by a massive wildfire last summer.

Authorities fear a number of burn areas could be threatened by mudslides.

Los Angeles County fire Inspector Matt Levesque said Monday that 106 homes in the Paradise Valley area were being evacuated...

...Residents in Southern California foothill communities were seeing the first of three expected storms this week. Forecasters said some areas could get up to 1 1/4 inches of rain an hour.

No major damage was reported despite rain that intensified through the day. The first storm was expected to drop 3 to 6 inches of rain in Southern California and 8 inches in the San Francisco area. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/18/AR2010011802999.html

[Spazito]

21. Stay safe Californians!

Thanks for the heads-up, nadin!

[bigwillq]

24. Be safe everyone.

:hug:

[cherokeeprogressive]

26. Up here in the San Bernardino Mountains it's snowing to beat all.

It's that kind of heavy wet snow that makes power lines sag and pine trees bend over. The kind of snow that you can hear falling. A strange silence but not silent if you know what I mean.

Power is out on most of the City of Big Bear Lake, Baldwin Lake, Erwin Lake, Lake Williams, Lake Arrowhead and Crestline. If you're familiar with the City of Big Bear Lake, there isn't a business open from Fox Farm Road all the way to the west end, where Big Bear Boulevard turns into Paine Road. I was driving back from a friend's house and saw four cars on the sidewalk, and a number of others that looked like they were just involved in a game of car-hockey, and nearly every fast food business had skiers standing outside looking in. Everything is closed though... I hope the flatlanders had sense enough to come prepared.

Now my satellite dish is covered and is getting no reception. I'm going to have to go up on the roof and clean it off.

I love it... I've been awaiting our first big storm for a month and a half now. It rained hard all night long, and the wind blew like the dickens. Looking down on the street below my house, I can see that the road is now covered with snow, and it only started snowing in ernest about an hour ago. Let the car-hockey begin!

[Born_A_Truman]

39. Hey neighbor...

Looks like a white-out from my place south to where you are. Do you lose power alot? Seems like every time a raven farts here in LV, we lose our power.

[cherokeeprogressive]

43. Howdy! Yeah, we lose the power a lot. Today the whole mountaintop except for my subdivision was

without power at one time or another. It's raining now after snowing HARD for a couple of hours. It's like a four inch deep slurpee in my driveway and up my street right now. The wet snow is making the tree limbs and power lines sag but hey, I have candles, wood, propane for the coleman stove, tequila, and wine so we're set!

Where do you live in LV?

We're going to be in the clear for a while shortly. It's going to be a BEAR (pun intended) when my driveway freezes later.

[Born_A_Truman]

55. We're out in the Cove

on 30 1/2 acres, surrounded by buttes on three sides, one right up behind the house. About 7 miles outside of town on dirt roads (probably mud now).

[Gregorian]

27. I've got my backhoe, 4wd crane truck, generator, chainsaw. Bring it on!

I may not have a house yet. And food and gas could be an issue. But I can cut down anything in my path and lift it or push it out of my way. Yeehaw!

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. Isolated are we? Hope you got some MREs

:hi:

[Gregorian]

31. Yikes! We just had our first power outtage. It lasted one minute.

I'm already not liking this. Waaaaaaaaah! I like my electricity.


I'm isolated four miles from town. It's an interesting place.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. So do I, make sure senstitive equipment is

on surge protectors.

It may pop your main too

Oh and stay away from downed power lines

[Gregorian]

37. Good advice. Thanks.

I've got the brains to deal with power lines. But I seem to forget that sensitive equipment thing. I've lost a number of items. But that was me losing my neutral line to the generator. And other things I am too embarrassed to mention. Oops.

[nadinbrzezinski]

40. I just go back on training

I am hugging my flashlight now

Hubby got his out of the closet.

We made sure both had batteries

I just looked outside. I have not seen rain pour this hard and fast since... oh the floods back when I was still doing the emergency shtick...

SO I got a bad feeling about this.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

35. I am also remote, but I have my standards...no MREs

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. Well I know I will replace my annual checkup with probably

camping food... tastes much better, but MREs have kept me alive in the past.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

44. Actual MREs are not available to civilians, but the equivalent are

I too have eaten them and the the new ones are supposed to be better that the older one. There is better on the commercial market and canned goods will keep for a long time. If I had to be mobile I might think differently.

Being remote I always have a fair amount of long term food on hand and a system to make sure the oldest gets consumed first. When I lived in urban areas We did the kit in the car things, including food.

I am old enough to have also eaten C rations. They make MREs look like fine dining.

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. I got the real thing

during one of the disasters we got USMC Issue MREs from the 1970s... so we used what my civies were used to eating and we distributed them to my personnel, who were all but happy. I mean this crap, or no food. I needed what my civies would actually eat, for them.

Nothing more fun than to open the surprise MRE... all lettering was gone.

FUN.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

48. Ouch...early MREs were far from palatable,but given the choice between them and nothing

[nadinbrzezinski]

51. The peanut butter sticks to my mind

I literally put it into my boot and walked on it for two hours to mix it.

My civies got rice and beans, and tortillas. We tried to get the marked ones with at least chocolate in them to my junior people. Surprise MREs were for senior personnel. I got really lucky, got the tuna surprise YUK!

[NV Whino]

28. Not heavy, but steady rain here

The creeks are running high already. There will be flooding by tomorrow in certain areas.

[cbayer]

30. It's crazy out on Catlina Island with the heaviest rain and strongest winds I have

ever seen here.

:hi:

[Gregorian]

32. Catalina?

I spent a summer at Emerald Bay back in 1968. That was absolutely wonderful.

Do you live there? I guess it feels like such a deserted place I can't imagine anyone actually living there.

[cbayer]

38. I live on a sailboat and spend most of my time around the island. Emerald Bay is

one of the mooring/anchorage areas that I really like, but it's a big no go today.

1968 was way too long ago. You should come back. You will be surprised how little has changed.

:hi:

[Gregorian]

57. That's great!

I was worried it would be condos and McMansions. Good to hear.

Oh, it was a dream. I worked at the Boy Scout kitchen as a kid. They had little cabins on the beach with electricity. Now whenever I hear those albums I get nostalgic. Cat Stevens. And the time I took a hike across the island, and encountered a wild boar far bigger than me. Yikes.

[nadinbrzezinski]

58. Hubby was 12 and part of the SAR on the Island

and if you ever had somebody do bad jokes on you guys, and you are 'bout my age... it was him and his buddies.

Partly they could not form a local unit, until they were told, you don't the one buck rental goes.

He used to carry bow \arrow to deal with bores and snakes, as well as a gun.

Life is funny, isn't it?

[goclark]

68. Catalina is so beautiful ~ been there many times

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. Hubby grew there

Take care

[Betsy Ross]

36. Thanks. I need to go shopping but this got me on my feet.

I have enough to hold us until Friday when I must go out regardless of the weather. Always have emergency supplies, food, water, firewood, etc., so we should be fine unless we have a massive earthquake. You just have to be prepared.

[begin_within]

42. Heavy downpour here in San Diego; Disneyland closed early

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. On the bright side my windows are clean

but I have not seen this much rain come down this fast since the floods ten years ago.

They say they dredged the Tijuana River Valley, so that will help.

[begin_within]

47. My car's getting a good cleaning and the streets too.

I'm actually glad when it rains because it saves me money on our water bill.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

49. Everyone should turn off their sprinklers

I don't have any...but the nearby pond/catch basin will be full.

[begin_within]

50. That's something that annoys me.

I've seen some of my neighbor's sprinklers systems running even as rain is falling! A couple of times I've dropped notes about it in mailboxes, but now I've noticed local weathermen such as Sean Styles reminding people to turn their systems off entirely for a couple of weeks after a major rain. I turned ours off today and I won't be turning it back on until February.

[nadinbrzezinski]

53. Hi neighbor...

damn we should have a San Diego DU meet up

[begin_within]

61. That would be fun.

[MikeH]

63. I live in San Diego

So I would be interested in attending a San Diego DU meet up if you have one.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

54. There are water sensors that can be used to stop uneeded watering, but the human thumb works best

[begin_within]

62. Many of my neighbors water at least a few minutes every single day, all year long.

I see water pouring down gutters all the time. It's incredible how much is wasted here considering it's so expensive now.

[nadinbrzezinski]

56. Kick and I am loving me flashlight

just saw the swift rescue go by, I wonder if the predicted idiot ran the barriers.

Yet it happens like clockwork.

[Terra Alta]

59. stay safe, all. nt

[Codeine]

60. It was raining like something straight from the Bible

on my drive home from work. Streets were rivers.

[gleaner]

64. Thanks for the advice ....

It's raining hard now where I am after a brief respite over night. The ground is so saturated that new water is mostly standing. The worst danger is near the mountain passes for the wind and the burn areas for mudslides and flooding. There are a lot of burn areas, as we have had a couple of really dry years.

I have my weather alert on the task bar of Mozilla and I am keeping a close eye on it. They are predicting thunderstorms with heavier rain later. I did my daily swim out to the trash cans. I like the rain, but everything is best in moderation. This doesn't seem like it will be moderate.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

65. Thunder and lightening here in SF ---

And it is insanely dark outside -- it looks like dusk, not 3pm. :( Wow, HUGE clap of thunder just overhead -- it's getting crazy here!

[goclark]

67. Thanks for thinking about us

We live by the LA Airport and so far we have not lost power.

At the moment ~ about 4:30 pm it is not rainng ~ so far we stilll have power.
:scared: