A uncommon Jan. 1 rainstorm drenched Southern California on Thursday, triggering slides and main highway closures throughout the Los Angeles space, in addition to swift water rescues on San Diego roadways.
Flooding of the 5 Freeway within the San Fernando Valley prompted Caltrans to close down all lanes between Tuxford Avenue and Lankershim Boulevard for a number of hours, whereas a mudslide closed Huge Tujunga Canyon Street in Angeles Nationwide Forest between the Angeles Forest Freeway and Vogel Flat Street — simply the most recent in an extended record of county highway closures on account of flooding and slides since Dec. 24.
In San Diego, emergency crews labored to rescue motorists who discovered themselves trapped on flooded roadways. “Our swiftwater rescue groups are actively working to rescue people caught of their vehicles alongside Trend Valley Rd & Riverwalk Dr.,” learn a press release from the San Diego Hearth Division round 10 a.m. “Keep protected, SD. Please keep away from the world & by no means stroll or drive via floodwaters.”
A San Diego Police Division spokesman stated a father and his younger daughter had been caught of their blue Jeep by deep, fast-moving water and rescued with out incident by San Diego Hearth-Rescue emergency crews.
The storm, which the Nationwide Climate Service described as “very juicy,” started round 3:45 a.m. Thursday. By 10 a.m. it had dumped 1.21 inches of rain on japanese Pasadena and downtown Los Angeles had acquired 1.33 inches, based on the climate service.
Sometimes, New Yr’s Day is rain-free within the Los Angeles space.
In line with the Nationwide Climate Service, rain has fallen on simply 10% of all New Yr’s Days between 1878 and 2025. The file for the vacation was in 1934, when it rained 3.12 inches in Pasadena. That was additionally the yr Los Angeles acquired multiple inch of rain on the primary day of the yr.
The Los Angeles space has already seen heavier-than-normal rainfall this wet season, which started Oct. 1.
As of Wednesday, downtown L.A. had already acquired 11.64 inches of rain, which is 7.8 inches above regular, based on meteorologist Mike Wofford of the climate service.
The rainfall appeared to dampen enthusiasm for the 2026 Rose Parade considerably, because the crowds that start filling Pasadena sidewalks hours earlier than Thursday’s procession had been smaller than in years prior.
Those that did attend used umbrellas, ponchos and awnings to guard themselves from the downpour.
Retired USPS letter service Michael Bartley, 66, was preserving heat with a patio heater as he sat below an awning at 7 a.m., saving areas for his household at their conventional viewing place at Madison Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. Bartley has attended a few dozen parades, and was current the final time it rained on the Rose Parade in 2006.
Bartley drove in from his residence in Buckeye, Ariz., on Wednesday and slept in his automobile to safe front-row seating for his household, and wasn’t too fussed concerning the downpour.
“It’s superb what a bit of rain will do … there’s no one over there,” he stated, gesturing to a row of empty folding chairs.
By 10 a.m, the storm seemed to be largely over, based on Wofford. Nevertheless, the sunshine won’t final. “We’ll be seeing gentle rain tomorrow afternoon and night and the start of one other storm coming in over the weekend,” he stated.
