If it isn't fires, earthquakes, riots, or something now we have to deal with a succession of storms that this past week tore through the state. Not since maybe 2005 did I see such a downpour in a short amount of time. While welcomed since we've had three really bad dry years. It has caused misery for a populace not used to actual seasons and these kinds of natural disasters. I now know my little tC can drive through 1.5' ponds of water without hydrolocking :smug:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=42369 <-- WHAT IS THIS AND HOW DO WE MAKE IT GO AWAY!

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-397121 <-- Mission Blvd in Pacific Beach. Community in San Diego

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/42000/42372/california_goe_2010021_lrg.mov <-- Time lapsed footage of a GOES capturing the storms pummeling the state.

Calissassians, how have you fared the Week of Water?

I know how you feel Dalf we got hit hard here on the Utah/Nevada border as well, but not as critical as what California experienced. In 2005 I actually watched houses crumble and float away in a river called the Santa Clara River thats usually a little stream, but that doesn't compare to the mud slides down in southern Cal.

look on the bright side... wet california doesn't burn as easily

Lolphoons

"Hydrolocking" is the least of your worries if you drive through deep water. You generally shouldn't do that ever, if you can help it.

Roads can get washed away under the water and if it's really murky, you won't see it. What starts out as 1' of water suddenly becomes 6', and suddenly your car is looking like the Titanic. Not to mention that it can interfere with your brakes if you aren't careful, causing them to not work well until the water boils off (thus once you leave a large puddle of water, you should tap your brakes a few times to ensure they're working correctly and to get the water off them, so that in case you do need to suddenly stop, it's there).

I assume you mean inches, not feet.

[Edit: I guess you don't unless dalf made the same mistake... woah... that's a lot of water.]

dalf, relax. it was just a bit of rain. That kind of weather where I'm from wouldn't have even made news.

(Ok watching the kayaking video, maybe it was a bit worse in some areas than I realized, but still...)

The worst part was dealing with idiot California drivers that think when it rains a little the gotta slow down to 25 mph on the freeway.

No really. I was driving through FEET of water.

my week of water showed up in one night...

in the form of a layer of ice on EVERYTHING

i left my car down at work because i doubt it'd make it up the hill

**** i hope this isn't all week

In the Las Vegas Area, Which is prone to Flash Floods, I have heard of people being swept off their feet under only a foot of water and being swept down in the currents. Flash floods are not to be taken likely. Like CM said you shouldn't drive through a flooded street if you can help it.

The only way to fix it is to flush it all away.

I think it's awesome. Plus, it's sunny and warm now.

Shutup sran. It was pretty ****ing awful. We're all adequately impressed by how awesome you are, you can leave the thread alone now.

But you forget, Sarn is surrounded by WATER MILES DEEP!

Not now, but it will make a lot of stuff grow that will then burn. Damn it, it has to burn. I need my overtime!

woah, Steven relax. All Im saying is that its funny how the idea of what constitutes "bad weather" in southern california is so severely skewed due to the fact that southern california rarely experiences it. It's really funny to me, for example, that whenever it's even lightly raining while I'm driving to work in the morning, nearly everyone is driving 45 mph on the 65 mph freeway and I'm hearing on the radio about how traffic is all backed up and there's been 13 car accidents because of the "slick roads" and I should drive extra careful this morning. I remember explaining to this young Navy kid one time about snow tires and chains, and he was literally shocked that people actually drove around over top of snow and ice.

Any ****ing time, any ****ing day. Learn to swim I'll see you down in Arizona Bay.

This was more than just a little "bad weather." We had a very substantial amount of rainfall in a short period of time to an area that is not used to such weather. Also, not more than three months ago, a very large chunk of land in LA County burned to the ground. This gave rise to some mudslides. Also, it was windy. Now it doesn't matter where you're from (except hurricane prone areas), high winds will blow **** over. I saw large trees uprooted, one very close to my house.

Furthermore, you're *****ing about driving slow and steady in rain? Call me paranoid but I prefer NOT to hydroplane and plow into the schmuck in the left lane. The spray from the tires kicking up water kind of makes a fog which makes it hard to see the other bloke ahead of you!

I'm pretty sure excessive amounts of rain is considered bad weather everywhere. Also, driving slow when it has been raining is called "common sense." But its okay, your bmw has rain protection so you can still cruise and get the chicks to stare.

I couldn't have said it better.

We got tired of waiting for an earthquake to make California fall off into the ocean, so we're trying to simply erode it away now and see if that goes any faster.

Post thief. I wanted that one.

'Cause I'm praying for raaaiinnnn, and I'm praying for tidal waaaves

Californians! More falling water is due to arrive late tomorrow.

There was an EF1 tornado in Bradford County, Florida on January 21st, which is southwest of my area in Duval County.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=jax&storyid=47143&source=0

There was also a tornado warning from 3:40 AM to 4:30 AM on January 25th for Clay County and Duval County, but the NWS didn't confirm that a tornado happened.