2LT International News

SAN DIEGO, California: This week, the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in January in San Diego, California’s second-largest city by population, flooded homes, washed away parked cars, and closed a highway.

On January 22, rain fell on the city at a rate of half an inch (1.3 cm) per hour, and firefighters and lifeguards rescued dozens of people from resulting flash floods.

The next day, Daniel Campos, supervisor of Spill the Beans Coffee and Bagels in San Diego, said the sky “just dumped rain” starting at midday a day earlier, flooding the parking lot and forcing the shop to close early.

“Water was bubbling up from manhole covers; it was crazy,” he said.

San Diego’s mayor declared a state of emergency and urged residents to stay home and avoid traveling on flooded roads.

David Roth, meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, said the storm drew moisture from the Pacific Ocean and dumped 2.73 inches (6.93 cm) of rain at San Diego’s airport, cutting off traffic to the facility, before heading to Northern California.

The rainfall, which caused the city’s fourth wettest day on record that was not far behind the record 3.34 inches (8.48 cm) in 1854, was “very unique,” he added.

“They should be getting some rain this time of year, but not like this,” Roth said, adding that San Diego residents started drying out as no more rain was forecast.