After the Storm - Laguna Beach

About two weeks ago I posted Big Doings in So Cal. As you already know, there was a lot of storm damage here. Yesterday my wife and I went downtown to check out how the repairs and clean up was going.

The morning after the storm (photo LA Times)

Yesterday - A major chunk of beach is gone...

Same view as above, but from the street. A large chunk of lawn and sand are missing.

And this is after the dozers moved most of the mud. (LA Times)

No Movie Today!  (LA Times)

What are you doing out here lady? (LA Times)

 

This is the same spot as the flood video in the earlier post (LA Times)

What a dufus!

Morning After the Storm (Mitch Ridder - OCinsite)

Same intersection as last two photos - Yesterday

A lot of folks had the same idea as we did yesterday. It was the first nice and clear day in a few weeks. Pretty cold (by our standards), but that didn't stop a lot of people from coming out.  About 12 days ago this intersection was under a flood of mud and water. It's amazing how they managed to get it all cleaned up so quickly. Also very surprising was the fact that almost every store was open for business.   I guess when your city's main source of income is tourism, you don't waste any time.

This stuff didn't quite make it to the ocean (LA Times)

On Wednesday I'll post some non-storm related photos from Laguna.

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Big Doings in So Cal

Many of you are used to extreme weather. Where I live, we are not. We live in a semi-arid very hilly area and even rainstorms cause us problems.  When it rains heavily for three solid days (like it just has) and the ground is already saturated from rain we've had over the past two weeks. We have HUGE problems.  I know that some of you are going to pooh-pooh this, because you experience "real" weather on a regular basis. Our infrastructure simply isn't made to handle it.

This morning I had a follow up appointment with my surgeon. My preferred route would take me through a place called Laguna Canyon (now closed), to Laguna Beach (now closed), and down Pacific Coast Highway (now closed) to Newport Beach.  As an alternate route, I took what I thought was the my best chance of making it through. I was shocked at how many trees were uprooted and/or damaged. Every river, creek, stream, lake, pond, and flood control I saw, had overflowed.  Many of you have seen photos from the lake at the bottom my hill. This morning, the lake was much bigger and every boat there was either sunk or full of water. Most of the famous downtown beach, is simply gone...


This video (thanks to ABC news) shows the mud and water flowing down Laguna Canyon Road.  (please click on the following link) http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/video?id=7858291


I have a huge mess to clean up at my house, the roof is leaking and my step daughter (Ashley at Our Journey Begins, as the Kings) just called and said her washing machine broke. So, I'm off to her house. Next storm is due any minute! 

Happy Holidays to all my friends out there. I'll not be posting again until next Monday! I hope you have a great holiday weekend.