Record rain leaves little damage

Deepa Bharath

Many Southern California cities, including Costa Mesa and Newport

Beach, have seen record amounts of rainfall for October,

meteorologists said on Wednesday.

Tuesday night’s heavy rain helped the area get to that

record-breaking level locally, said Chuck Doucot, a Costa Mesa

weather-watcher for the National Weather Service.

He used his rain gauge to measure 2.72 inches of rain between 10

p.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m. Wednesday, Doucot said.

“I’ve lived in Costa Mesa practically my whole life, and this is

the most rain I’ve ever seen in October,” he said.

More rain was expected Wednesday night, but it should all end by

today, said Noel Isla, a meteorologist for the National Weather

Service in San Diego. As of Wednesday evening, about .90 inches of

rain was reported in John Wayne Airport and 1.77 in Newport Beach, he

said.

“For many cities it’s a record-breaker,” Isla said.

After today, weather patterns should return to normal, with sunny

skies, he said.

Both Costa Mesa and Newport Beach did not witness any major

incidents or flooding as a result of the rain, city officials said.

Newport Beach workers have been hauling hundreds of tons of trash

and debris that have washed up on the beaches after the storm, said

city general services director David Neiderhaus.

“We didn’t have any flooding this time,” he said.

Two trees fell on city streets, but they were smaller trees, and

no one was reported hurt, Neiderhaus said.

“We’ve had a few people come in to pick up sand bags,” he said.

“We also had some leaks in some of the city buildings. But that was

it.”

Costa Mesa escaped without much damage either, said City Engineer

Ernesto Munoz.

“Two intersections were flooded [Tuesday] night, and we had to

close them,” he said.

Both intersections, 19th Street and Anaheim Avenue and 17th Street

and Pomona Avenue, were reopened Wednesday morning, Munoz said.

It’s surprising to some extent that the heavy downpour didn’t

cause more damage, he said.

“But then again, the rain didn’t come down all at once,” Munoz

said. “It was extended over a long period of time. That’s always

easier to digest.”