DeLaWho? DeLaWhat? DeLaWhere?

As my geology education progresses, it becomes clear that life in California is one filled with hazards. Why so many people live close to an tectonically active fault is beyond me. Today, In Environmental Geology, my professor proclaimed that California has the highest amount of hazard risk in land. Now this...



ABC News
Calif. Storms Spawn Tornadoes; Six Dead
Series of Deadly Storms Spawn Tornadoes and Landslides Across California, Leaving Six Dead

The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES Feb 22, 2005 — A deadly series of storms across California spawned everything from tornadoes to avalanches, flooding freeways with steady rain and sending rivers of mud crashing through homes.
At least six deaths have been blamed on the storm, including a woman buried by an avalanche north of Lake Tahoe and others who were victims of landslides, traffic accidents, falling trees and flooding.
Mudslides forced Amtrak officials to suspend service from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara at least through Tuesday. Service between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo wasn't expected to resume until next Monday. During the weekend, Metrolink also had canceled rail service for parts of the area because of flooding.

Forecasters said Tuesday that the long-lived storm system would bring at least another inch of rain to Southern California but was losing strength and could move out of the region by Wednesday afternoon. A flash flood watch remained in effect Tuesday for much of Southern California.
"I think we've probably seen the worst of the storm," said Ted MacKenchnie, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Dozens of homes were evacuated or red-tagged marked as uninhabitable because they were threatened by sliding hillsides, authorities said.
Northern California also was hit by severe thunderstorms, hail and at least two afternoon tornadoes in the Sacramento area that uprooted trees and damaged roofs and fences.
The California Highway Patrol reported more than 300 crashes in a 14-hour period in Southern California, compared with 50 to 75 accidents on a normal, dry day.
A section of the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles was shut down for several hours late Monday because it was flooded by as much as 5 feet of water.
The wild weather came from a series of storms that began battering the state on Thursday, dumping 6.5 inches of rain in downtown Los Angeles.
A total of 31.40 inches of rain has fallen since July 1, the start of the region's annual "water year" measuring period, the fifth wettest on record. The record is 38.18 inches, set in 1883-84.