Ferocious Storm Hits Southern California

FOX News ^ | 11/13/2003 | FOX News Staff

[ex-Texan]

Ferocious Storm Hits Southern California

LOS ANGELES — A freak storm pummeled parts of Southern California with up to 5 inches of rain and hail, forcing motorists to abandon swamped cars at the height of rush hour and leaving thousands of residents without power.

Lightning lit up the region as fast-flowing water turned some streets to rivers Wednesday night. Water swept trash and other debris to the doorsteps of homes and stores. In areas where the hail was deep, adults snapped photos and children frolicked Thursday in a landscape that looked more like Minneapolis than Los Angeles.

"It was just unbelievable," said National Weather Service (search) meteorologist Curt Kaplan. He said 5 inches of rain was recorded in just two hours in southern Los Angeles, nearing the previous record for the area of 5.9 inches -- "but that was in an entire day." Skies mostly cleared overnight.

The sudden downpour surprised commuters, and firefighters reported rescuing more than 100 motorists and pedestrians from waist-deep waters. Tow truck drivers packed their lots with abandoned vehicles and parked others in school lots.

The storm stalled for an hour over parts of southern and eastern Los Angeles County. Among the areas hardest hit were urban communities in the southern Los Angeles district of Watts and in neighboring South Gate, Lynwood and Compton.

Martice Thacker was forced to abandon her car when the hail began.

"I panicked, and I opened the door, and the ice came all the way up in the car," she told KCAL-TV.

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[ex-Texan]

Please forgive me -- I just could not pass up the Great Zot photo!

I spoke to a friend living in Los Angeles today. He said hail was bouncing in the street, drivers were panicked and some people downtown had abandoned their cars to run into buildings.

[saquin]

Araceli Hinojosa, 5, shovels piles of hail from her street in the Watts section of Los Angeles, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003, after a freak storm pummeled parts of Southern California with up to five inches of rain and hail Wednesday night. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Keith Washington covers his friend, Precious Byrd, 12, in hail as they play in the hail-covered street in the Watts section of Los Angeles, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003. A freak storm pummeled parts of Southern California with up to 5 inches of rain and hail Wednesday night, forcing inner city motorists to abandon swamped cars at the height of rush hour and leaving thousands of residents without power. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Freaky.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Oh yeah. I was out driving in that mess. What started out with sprinkles turned into the biggest downpour I've ever seen in the South Bay area. No jacket and sandals, because I just ran to the store. Most of the hail apparently hit our neighbors directly north of us, but the streets were turning into rivers here. There was a lightning strike that caught something on fire, but we aren't sure where that was. The power kept going out for a couple of hours. I haven't seen anything like this in years.