Extreme Weather

This is what touched down about 15 miles from our home. It grew very dark today and suddenly the heavens opened. It poured down rain. That's extremely unusual for Southern California in late May. It typically rains from December to early March and that's it for the entire year.

We had such strong winds that this train blew off the railroad tracks about five miles from where the tornado touched down. We're talking strong winds here.

Meanwhile, it hailed across the Los Angeles area. Kids in East L.A. were out having snowball fights using their mother's dishwashing gloves because they didn't have any mittens. Kids in Southern California aren't used to snow unless they live in Big Bear. And it snowed up there for about six hours today.

After we rushed into the house and got settled in, there was an utter downpour. As we looked out the front window, we noticed that water about a foot deep was rushing down the street, filling it from curb to curb. Sam changed into his shorts and flip flops and said, "I need to go out and get the trash barrels and bring them in." Today is trash day and they were out at the curb. However, the water was now coming up over the curb and beginning to creep up the driveway. He stepped out the door with an umbrella just in time to see our large recycle barrel floating down the street toward the main drag. So out into the drink he went, water half-way up his leg. The flip-flops and umbrella got left behind and after wrestling the barrel (which was full of water and very unwieldy), he came wading back into the yard with barrel in tow.

The downpour just stopped. Sam is dozing off in his chair, watching the game through tired little slits of eyes. I'm trying not to do work at home, so between surfing the web and answering phone calls, I'm pretty laid back. The air coming in the windows is cool and crisp--and very wet-clean smelling. We are thankful to be safe and that our house didn't float away or lift off in the storm. What a perfect night for open-window sleeping, after the storm.