By ADAM L. R. SUMMERS
News Review Staff Writer
For the second weekend in a
row, Ridgecrest was hit by a
deluge of summer rain that sent
water racing down streets and
pooling in low-lying areas around
town.
Sunday’s storm appeared to
outpace the previous weekend’s
rainfall, dropping more than two
inches of rain in as many hours in
some parts of the valley, flooding
whole neighborhoods and
causing damage to homes and
businesses.
The Storm
Sunday, the thunderstorms flying
around Eastern California painted
a bullseye on Ridgecrest. The
National Weather Service
released a flash-flood warning
Sunday afternoon for Ridgecrest
and surrounding areas.
Six weather stations in
Ridgecrest submit their weather
News Review Staff Writer
For the second weekend in a
row, Ridgecrest was hit by a
deluge of summer rain that sent
water racing down streets and
pooling in low-lying areas around
town.
Sunday’s storm appeared to
outpace the previous weekend’s
rainfall, dropping more than two
inches of rain in as many hours in
some parts of the valley, flooding
whole neighborhoods and
causing damage to homes and
businesses.
The Storm
Sunday, the thunderstorms flying
around Eastern California painted
a bullseye on Ridgecrest. The
National Weather Service
released a flash-flood warning
Sunday afternoon for Ridgecrest
and surrounding areas.
Six weather stations in
Ridgecrest submit their weather
data to www.wunderground.com, a website that compiles and displays data from a variety of professional and
personal weather stations. Among those six stations, the highest total rainfall on Sunday was 1.51 inches at City Hall,
where the rain came down as fast as half an inch per hour.
Another station in southwest Ridgecrest received only 1.07 inches of total rainfall on Sunday, but at 4:30 p.m. it
measured a blistering rainfall rate slightly more than 5 inches per hour.
One of the six stations measured no rainfall at all.
That tremendous variability parallels the rainfall data collected by Glenn Harris, a natural resource specialist with
the Bureau of Land Management’s Ridgecrest Field Office.
Harris said that he measured 2.5 inches of rain at the local BLM office, but only 1.59 inches at home in northwest
Ridgecrest. His brother’s house between Ridgecrest and Inyokern did not have scientific measuring devices, but
Harris said he was confident that observations he took there showed the property had received more than three
inches of rain.
Radar images taken of the approaching storm also showed the contrast between most of the storm and its
intensely active cells. One Doppler image showed a typical storm pattern of greens and yellows (areas of light to
moderate precipitation) dotted with three compact zones of red – the heaviest precipitation category.
Rain in July is a rare event in the Ridgecrest area, Harris said.
The July rainfall total for Ridgecrest is only 0.12 inches, according to www.weather.com. The annual average is
just 4.73 inches, meaning much of Ridgecrest received one third or more of its average annual rainfall in just a few
hours.
The Flood
All that rain in just a few hours spelled disaster for the city’s drainage system, as well as creating some dramatic
runoff on surrounding slopes and canyons.
Portions of Balsam Street’s business district saw flood waters mount above the gutters and flow several inches into
some businesses. The News Review received reports of flooding severe enough to interrupt business at Baxendale’
s, Sierra Furniture Gallery, TUX“ego” & The Bridal Connection and Lindsay’s Furniture. The office of the News Review
at 109 N. Station St. also suffered minor flooding.
Downs Street became completely submerged, as water covered the sidewalk on both sides of the street in some
sections. Many local intersections turned into temporary ponds. The drainage basin on Bowman Road at China Lake
Boulevard overflowed, increasing the already heavy flow on East Bowman Road. Whole neighborhoods on the east
side of Ridgecrest were awash in floodwaters above the curbs, and some people began referring to the swift flow of
water on South Richmond Road as “Richmond River.”
Stranded motorists became a common site on some of the busiest and most flooded stretches of local roads. Even
the Kern County Fire Department, which responded to help stranded motorists, got a taste of the storm’s wrath when
its Engine 77 became stuck and had to be towed to drier ground. (A department spokesperson said that the engine
suffered no damage.)
Although the rain was generally lighter in the higher elevations west of Ridgecrest, some areas did see intense
downpours that caused heavy runoff. Harris pointed out that some of the canyons near Lake Isabella yielded heavy
runoff laden with mud and ash
The dramatic flooding garnered national attention, as national news agencies began to pick up on reports
generated by local amateur reporters. Pictures and video by David Johnson, a contributor to the News Review, that
were submitted to the website www.ireport.com have been included in CNN’s national news broadcasts.
The Aftermath
Although the flood was probably not the worst in the city’s history – several sources said it didn’t surpass the
dramatic flood that occurred in 1984 – it was severe enough to cause damage to homes and businesses that will
now require cleanup and repair.
One of the people whose home was inundated posted a comment to Johnson’s iReport material, lashing out at
how people driving by slowed down to gawk at the damage being done to her home even as their driving on the
flooded street sent waves of water further into her home.
Across the city, people who experienced flood damage in their homes are now exploring whether they have
insurance coverage that will help them with their losses. Another flood victim whose home was a subject of Johnson’
s coverage approached him for photographs for her insurance company, he said yesterday. But many homeowners
have expressed concern that their policies may not cover flood damage.
Tuesday morning, several businesses on Balsam Street still hadn’t reopened.
Automatic Teller Machines at AltaOne Federal Credit Union’s corporate office were offline because of damage from
the flooding, according to a report on AltaOne’s website.
The Ridgecrest Chamber of Commerce sent out an urgent message to as many local businesses as possible,
asking them to report any storm-related damage to the city of Ridgecrest. The city needed the information to try to get
the city and the flood damage included in a disaster declaration already being prepared for areas that took a double
hit, first suffering from wildfires and then falling victim to flooding and mudslides. (The chamber’s appeal went out
yesterday, and the deadline to report damage to the city also ran out yesterday afternoon.)
Because the summer rain was such an unusual event for the local environment, it may not have a dramatic effect on
local plants and animals, said Harris.
Most local vegetation isn’t adapted to make use of summer rain, so it simply won’t respond to the sudden
occurrences of rain this month, he said. Some plants – particularly local weeds – that grow year-round in wet areas
like roadside drainage ditches may grow out across the landscape, but they will probably die out quickly if rainfall
patterns return to normal.
One possible dramatic impact of the rains would be the triggering of germination by native bushes, including the
creosote bush. The seeds lying in the ground only germinate during periods of hot, wet weather – an unusual
occurrence locally. Whether seeds that germinate survive or not would depend on how the rest of the season goes,
he said.
personal weather stations. Among those six stations, the highest total rainfall on Sunday was 1.51 inches at City Hall,
where the rain came down as fast as half an inch per hour.
Another station in southwest Ridgecrest received only 1.07 inches of total rainfall on Sunday, but at 4:30 p.m. it
measured a blistering rainfall rate slightly more than 5 inches per hour.
One of the six stations measured no rainfall at all.
That tremendous variability parallels the rainfall data collected by Glenn Harris, a natural resource specialist with
the Bureau of Land Management’s Ridgecrest Field Office.
Harris said that he measured 2.5 inches of rain at the local BLM office, but only 1.59 inches at home in northwest
Ridgecrest. His brother’s house between Ridgecrest and Inyokern did not have scientific measuring devices, but
Harris said he was confident that observations he took there showed the property had received more than three
inches of rain.
Radar images taken of the approaching storm also showed the contrast between most of the storm and its
intensely active cells. One Doppler image showed a typical storm pattern of greens and yellows (areas of light to
moderate precipitation) dotted with three compact zones of red – the heaviest precipitation category.
Rain in July is a rare event in the Ridgecrest area, Harris said.
The July rainfall total for Ridgecrest is only 0.12 inches, according to www.weather.com. The annual average is
just 4.73 inches, meaning much of Ridgecrest received one third or more of its average annual rainfall in just a few
hours.
The Flood
All that rain in just a few hours spelled disaster for the city’s drainage system, as well as creating some dramatic
runoff on surrounding slopes and canyons.
Portions of Balsam Street’s business district saw flood waters mount above the gutters and flow several inches into
some businesses. The News Review received reports of flooding severe enough to interrupt business at Baxendale’
s, Sierra Furniture Gallery, TUX“ego” & The Bridal Connection and Lindsay’s Furniture. The office of the News Review
at 109 N. Station St. also suffered minor flooding.
Downs Street became completely submerged, as water covered the sidewalk on both sides of the street in some
sections. Many local intersections turned into temporary ponds. The drainage basin on Bowman Road at China Lake
Boulevard overflowed, increasing the already heavy flow on East Bowman Road. Whole neighborhoods on the east
side of Ridgecrest were awash in floodwaters above the curbs, and some people began referring to the swift flow of
water on South Richmond Road as “Richmond River.”
Stranded motorists became a common site on some of the busiest and most flooded stretches of local roads. Even
the Kern County Fire Department, which responded to help stranded motorists, got a taste of the storm’s wrath when
its Engine 77 became stuck and had to be towed to drier ground. (A department spokesperson said that the engine
suffered no damage.)
Although the rain was generally lighter in the higher elevations west of Ridgecrest, some areas did see intense
downpours that caused heavy runoff. Harris pointed out that some of the canyons near Lake Isabella yielded heavy
runoff laden with mud and ash
The dramatic flooding garnered national attention, as national news agencies began to pick up on reports
generated by local amateur reporters. Pictures and video by David Johnson, a contributor to the News Review, that
were submitted to the website www.ireport.com have been included in CNN’s national news broadcasts.
The Aftermath
Although the flood was probably not the worst in the city’s history – several sources said it didn’t surpass the
dramatic flood that occurred in 1984 – it was severe enough to cause damage to homes and businesses that will
now require cleanup and repair.
One of the people whose home was inundated posted a comment to Johnson’s iReport material, lashing out at
how people driving by slowed down to gawk at the damage being done to her home even as their driving on the
flooded street sent waves of water further into her home.
Across the city, people who experienced flood damage in their homes are now exploring whether they have
insurance coverage that will help them with their losses. Another flood victim whose home was a subject of Johnson’
s coverage approached him for photographs for her insurance company, he said yesterday. But many homeowners
have expressed concern that their policies may not cover flood damage.
Tuesday morning, several businesses on Balsam Street still hadn’t reopened.
Automatic Teller Machines at AltaOne Federal Credit Union’s corporate office were offline because of damage from
the flooding, according to a report on AltaOne’s website.
The Ridgecrest Chamber of Commerce sent out an urgent message to as many local businesses as possible,
asking them to report any storm-related damage to the city of Ridgecrest. The city needed the information to try to get
the city and the flood damage included in a disaster declaration already being prepared for areas that took a double
hit, first suffering from wildfires and then falling victim to flooding and mudslides. (The chamber’s appeal went out
yesterday, and the deadline to report damage to the city also ran out yesterday afternoon.)
Because the summer rain was such an unusual event for the local environment, it may not have a dramatic effect on
local plants and animals, said Harris.
Most local vegetation isn’t adapted to make use of summer rain, so it simply won’t respond to the sudden
occurrences of rain this month, he said. Some plants – particularly local weeds – that grow year-round in wet areas
like roadside drainage ditches may grow out across the landscape, but they will probably die out quickly if rainfall
patterns return to normal.
One possible dramatic impact of the rains would be the triggering of germination by native bushes, including the
creosote bush. The seeds lying in the ground only germinate during periods of hot, wet weather – an unusual
occurrence locally. Whether seeds that germinate survive or not would depend on how the rest of the season goes,
he said.
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Current Issue Links
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Torrential rains flood city, again
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Local firefighters from the Bureau of Land Management, China Lake and Kern
County fire departments help patrons of the American Legion on Ridgecrest
Boulevard escape flood waters that temporarily trapped them inside.
Photo by David Johnson
County fire departments help patrons of the American Legion on Ridgecrest
Boulevard escape flood waters that temporarily trapped them inside.
Photo by David Johnson
| Click the e to see our flood picture gallery |
