The extraordinary plume of subtropical moisture that moved ashore Monday was continuing to drench San Diego County Tuesday morning in what could turn out to be nearly a week’s worth of messy weather.
The National Weather Service said that a series of storms could ultimately drop 4 to 6 inches of precipitation in much of North County and 3 to 4 inches from San Diego south to the border by Sunday.
Large cells of rain were cycling through most of the county at 7:40 a.m. Tuesday. A flood warning has been issued for the San Diego River in Fashion Valley.
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The storm overnight prompted two separate water-rescue calls, one of which led to the discovery of a body near the U.S.-Mexico border.
In the first incident, U.S. Customs & Border Protection officers spotted the body floating in the water near Dairy Mart Road and Camino de la Plaza, a San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesperson said. The area is located on the edge of the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park.
Firefighters and lifeguards responded around 1:20 a.m., and the crews recovered the body, bringing it to a boat launch area, the spokesperson said. The body was turned over to San Diego police. It was not immediately clear if the person who died was male or female. The fire department spokesperson said the immigration status of the person who died was not known.
“The Medical Examiner’s office will determine cause of death and whether the death was storm related,” spokesperson Mónica Muñoz said in an email.
There were reports that a second person was in the water so lifeguards conducted a search, but they were unable to locate anyone else, she said.
Around 2 a.m., lifeguards conducted a water rescue in Mission Valley. Lifeguards used a rescue boat to pluck two people from the south river bank of the San Diego River, just east of Qualcomm Way. The two were taken to shore and checked out by medical personnel, but did not require treatment.
A man walks in the rain past sunflowers at a flower shop in downtown San Diego on Monday.
(K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Crews were bracing for potentially more rescues as more storm cells head into the region over the next few days.
Monday’s plume took the form of a slow-moving atmospheric river that was pulled north by a cold Pacific storm. The river — which has already caused flooding and mudslides across Los Angeles and Orange counties — will last until mid-to-late morning, possibly producing the same kind of mayhem here in San Diego County.
The plume will then fade. But forecasters said that what follows will be the core of the main storm, which will begin Tuesday afternoon and last into the night. On Wednesday, an entirely new storm will move ashore, periodically dropping light to heavy rain that will extend into Thursday. Scattered rain will continue into the weekend.
If San Diego receives 3 inches of rain by Sunday, that would push the city’s seasonal rainfall total to more than 8 inches. San Diego only averages 9.79 inches during the annual rainy season, which lasts from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.
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The plume moved into North County before dawn on Monday and dropped 4.81 inches of rain at San Onofre and 4.33 inches at Camp Pendleton, along with 3.09 inches in Oceanside Harbor and 2.83 inches at Fallbrook, through 4 a.m. Tuesday.
The weather service said that 2.88 inches of rain fell in Oceanside Harbor on Monday alone, breaking the previous record for Feb. 5 by 1.29 inches. The older record was set in 1948. Vista recorded 1.87 inches, breaking the day’s record by 1.13 inches. The previous record was set in 1976.
National City had recorded 1.66 inches of rain, and San Diego International Airport had gotten 1.36 inches.
People take cover in the rain on 5th Ave. in downtown San Diego.
(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Many areas south of Carlsbad had gotten only a smattering of rain by Monday evening, leading many to wonder if the storm would simply bypass San Diego and South County, especially the areas where a Jan. 22 storm caused damaging flooding, such as Southcrest, Mountain View and National City.
But the atmospheric river soon shifted south, as forecast, and began drenching the San Diego metropolitan area.
Rainfall totals through 4 a.m Tuesday:
San Onofre: 4.81 inches
Camp Pendleton: 4.33 inches
Palomar Observatory: 3.69 inches
Fallbrook: 3.22 inches
Oceanside: 3.09 inches
Bonsall: 2.72 inches
Rainbow: 2.64 inches
Carlsbad: 2.36 inches
Valley Center: 1.96 inches
Encinitas: 1.85 inches
Escondido: 1.80 inches
San Marcos: 1.76 inches
National City: 1.66 inches
Miramar Lake: 1.52 inches
Poway: 1.48 inches
Santee: 1.42 inches
Point Loma: 1.41 inches
Rancho Bernardo: 1.40 inches
Kearny Mesa: 1.37 inches
San Diego International Airport: 1.36 inches
Miramar: 1.31 inches
Fashion Valley: 1.31 inches
Montgomery Field: 1.30 inches
Ramona Airport: 1.27 inches
North Island: 1.24 inches
Brown Field: 1.20 inches
Henshaw Dam: 1.09 inches
The initial arrival and expansion of the storm was felt throughout the county, and beyond.
More than 175 flights out of San Diego International Airport had been delayed by Monday evening, and about a third of inbound flights also had been delayed, according to FlightAware.
A Southwest Airlines jet takes off toward the east at San Diego International airport as a storm moved in on Monday.
(K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Monday’s rain also closed the stretch of state Route 78 between San Diego Zoo Safari Park and Bandy Canyon Road. Flooding led to road closures throughout the region, including — again — on a busy section of state Route 78 near El Camino Real in Oceanside. There was also a smattering of reports of downed trees across North County.
Conditions were even worse to the north in San Clemente, leading the city to close two new sections of beach near the spot of a landslide in late January that has halted passenger rail service between San Diego County and points north.
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San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria issued evacuation warnings Sunday to several of the low-lying communities that had already suffered flood damage in earlier storms.
“This is a warning, not an order,” Gloria said. “This warning is designed to have residents in these communities make preparations now should it become necessary in the future” to evacuate. If an evacuation order is issued, first responders will go door-to-door, the mayor said.
Fire Chief Colin Stowell said the city’s Fire-Rescue Department had beefed up its staffing because of the storm, calling in extra firefighters, lifeguards and dispatchers to handle calls. He urged residents to stay home, avoid outside activities and stay off the roads if they could.
“If you do not need to go outside, if you do not need to get on the roads, don’t,” Stowell said. He reminded drivers not to go around barricades.
Nearly 160 households were temporarily placed in hotel rooms by the San Diego Housing Commission, Gloria’s office said.
The Red Cross shelter at Balboa Park hosted 91 people, nearly a third of them new to the shelter Monday. Many of the others remain displaced by Jan. 22 flooding.
The city of San Diego said it had relocated people who had been staying at the designated camping site at 20th and B Streets, offering all of the roughly 150 people at the site temporary shelter at Golden Hall.
A vehicle is driven through a flooded area on Madison Ave. in North Park.
(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The city also activated its inclement weather shelter program, a partnership of the San Diego Housing Commission, City of San Diego, Father Joe’s Villages, San Diego Rescue Mission and Living Water Church of the Nazarene.
There was a push to help unhoused people with pets prepare as well. Helen Woodward Animal Center’s Emergency Response Team stopped by Alpha Project and Dreams for Change, passing out dog and cat food, crates, collars, blankets and more. There was also a veterinary technician on hand to provide basic welfare checkups.
The animal center helped 85 animals and “completely ran out of supplies,” a spokesperson said.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta issued an alert Monday reminding people to beware of price-gouging. State law generally prohibits sellers from increasing prices more than 10 percent after a state of emergency has been declared — Gov. Gavin Newsom issued such a declaration over the weekend in anticipation of the deluge expected in several counties, including San Diego.
