SAN DIEGO — A powerful rainstorm hit Southern California on Monday, causing flooding and street closures in San Diego, authorities said.
The massive moisture from the Pacific Ocean also suspended trolley service in downtown San Diego, caused power outages and forced the closure of schools, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
According to the National Weather Service in San Diego, up to 3 inches of rain fell in three hours and the San Diego River was actively flooding, The New York Times reported.
The San Diego area received more rain on Monday than it did last August, when Southern California was hit by Tropical Storm Hilary, the newspaper reported.
The city’s airport recorded 2.67 inches of rain between midnight and noon PST on Monday, according to the Union-Tribune. According to records dating to 1850, that was the highest amount of rain that has ever fallen on a January day in San Diego.
“This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation,” the National Weather Service in San Diego said in an emergency alert. “Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order.”
“By all indications, this will shake out as one of the top 10 wettest days for the airport here out of all the climate records going back to the 1800s,” Brian Adams, a meteorologist with the NWS in San Diego, told the Times. “It’s been a day, yeah.”
By Monday afternoon, San Diego Gas & Electric listed more than 15,000 customers without electricity, the Union-Tribune reported.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the City of Coronado said there is heavy flooding in the area and urged motorists to stay off the road.
A flash flood watch remained in effect until 9 p.m. PST, according to KNSD-TV.
“We have had power outages, loss of communication and flooding at some sites,” the National School District in San Diego County wrote on X.