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September 28–October 1, 1932: The remnants of a hurricane brought four days of rain. Flash floods killed 15 people I mean, shit happens? https://en.wikipedia.

September 28–October 1, 1932: The remnants of a hurricane brought four days of rain. Flash floods killed 15 people I mean, shit happens? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_hurricanes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_California_hurricanes

freitzkriesler2 3y ago
That was particularly bad for a few reasons 1. There wasn't any weather station in the areas so people didn't know the storm was coming. 2. The LA area didn't have nearly as much of the US army corp of engineers' flood control systems it has today. LA nowadays has an incredibly robust flood control system. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being a bad thunderstorm and mostly a nothing burger.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Forecasting can make a huge difference. When a hurricane practically wiped Galveston off the map in 1900, US weather forecasting capabilities were extremely limited. [1] On a much smaller scale, there was the Blizzard of '78 which basically shut down Boston for a week and stuck many drivers on Route 128 from which they had to be laboriously evacuated. Quite a few people were stuck in their offices for a week--all in part because the storm pretty much caught everyone by surprise.[2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_hurricane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_hurricane [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_United_States_blizzard_of_1978 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_United_States_bli...
- Retric 3y ago
  Mudslides are upstream of flood control systems and likely the biggest threat. Similarly local flooding can cause a great deal of damage without being part of a stream system. “Remnants of” Hurricane Ida killed 44 people in the NYC area in 2021, this is expected to still qualify as a tropical storm when it makes landfall.
dragonwriter 3y ago
1939, when there was a tropical storm track that actually ran through Southern California, is probably a better comparator (but, both general and, because of forecasting, specific preparedness should be much better this time – the existence of a Southern California forecast office, after all, was a direct response to that storm.) Track looks much farther inland: the 1939 storm hit Long Beach, the track for this is predicted to run over what looks like about the Imperial Valley, and up north toward (and potentially still with tropical storm winds into parts of) Nevada. Less populated areas directly in the track, but pretty much the whole width of Southern California is potentially going to get tropical storm strength winds, as well as whatever rains this brings, which are the real problem. The flash flood risk maps are…quite extensive. [0] https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_ep4+shtml/204534.shtml?ero#contents https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_ep4+shtml/204534.s...

freitzkriesler2 3y ago

That was particularly bad for a few reasons 1. There wasn't any weather station in the areas so people didn't know the storm was coming. 2. The LA area didn't have nearly as much of the US army corp of engineers' flood control systems it has today. LA nowadays has an incredibly robust flood control system. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being a bad thunderstorm and mostly a nothing burger.

ghaff 3y ago
Forecasting can make a huge difference. When a hurricane practically wiped Galveston off the map in 1900, US weather forecasting capabilities were extremely limited. [1] On a much smaller scale, there was the Blizzard of '78 which basically shut down Boston for a week and stuck many drivers on Route 128 from which they had to be laboriously evacuated. Quite a few people were stuck in their offices for a week--all in part because the storm pretty much caught everyone by surprise.[2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_hurricane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_hurricane [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_United_States_blizzard_of_1978 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_United_States_bli...
Retric 3y ago
Mudslides are upstream of flood control systems and likely the biggest threat. Similarly local flooding can cause a great deal of damage without being part of a stream system. “Remnants of” Hurricane Ida killed 44 people in the NYC area in 2021, this is expected to still qualify as a tropical storm when it makes landfall.

dragonwriter 3y ago

1939, when there was a tropical storm track that actually ran through Southern California, is probably a better comparator (but, both general and, because of forecasting, specific preparedness should be much better this time – the existence of a Southern California forecast office, after all, was a direct response to that storm.) Track looks much farther inland: the 1939 storm hit Long Beach, the track for this is predicted to run over what looks like about the Imperial Valley, and up north toward (and potentially still with tropical storm winds into parts of) Nevada. Less populated areas directly in the track, but pretty much the whole width of Southern California is potentially going to get tropical storm strength winds, as well as whatever rains this brings, which are the real problem. The flash flood risk maps are…quite extensive. [0] https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_ep4+shtml/204534.shtml?ero#contents https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_ep4+shtml/204534.s...