On Jan 22, 2024, San Diego County issued a local emergency warning because of the heavy rainfall caused by the atmospheric river.
Throughout that entire day, the whole city of San Diego experienced heavy flooding which caused stores to close, cars to be swept away in the rain and homes to be destroyed. The flooding became so much of an issue that the city, after an 8-0 vote, requested Gov. Gavin Newsom to talk to President Joe Biden about having Jan 22 be declared a major disaster.
Unfortunately for San Diego, that day was the start of ongoing bad weather for the city. Between Jan 22 and Feb 6, numerous mudslides were created due to the constant rainfall. While all of that was happening a tornado warning was issued for Santee, La Mesa, and El Cajon. This rare occurrence shocked most if not all the people living in those three areas, as it could not have come at a worse time.
Feb 7 was supposed to be the last day of the atmospheric river and it delivered hard hail for most of the night, but people in the Cuyamaca mountain range woke up to blankets of snow outside.
A Grossmont College student, Ahmed Alasady, said, “I feel like the rain has affected me pretty greatly. It caused me to leave the house earlier in case of any traffic due to accidents caused by the rain. I did experience some flooding when leaving my house which caused me to second guess about me going out. I still enjoy the rain due to the nice sleep it provides, but I hate it during the day.”
The poor weather has had a negative impact on the city, but hopefully, it is all in the past and the city can go back to warm weather and clear skies.
