Wild Weather Wallops San Diego

Cleanup begins in San Diego where sudden winds and rain tore through the county Tuesday bringing with them flooding, downed trees, power outages and winds powerful enough to overturn 10 planes at a small airport.

"It was like a tornado and a hurricane all at once," said Michael who witnessed the damage. He called the sudden microburst the most insane storm he's seen in San Diego.

The "pop-up" thunderstorms occurred Tuesday afternoon first in the Spring Valley and the Rancho San Diego area and then hours later in Mission Valley and Kearny Mesa area.

These kind of storms form and die in place but can bring significant damage.

Tree removal service workers are in Rancho San Diego trying to clear large trees that fell near the shopping center on Avocado just off State Route 94.

In Mission Valley, huge trees fell across cars and the sidewalk at Camino de la Reina and Mission Center Road.

[G]Thunderstorm Damages Trees, Vehicles in East County

Sudden winds knocked down several eucalyptus trees that blocked traffic along State Route 163 in the evening commute Tuesday.

At Montgomery Field, six small planes flipped over despite being chained to the ground. One plane was pushed over a fence and onto two cars. 

A 40-foot hangar was moved 50 yards in the storm.

Damage estimate was $800,000 but taking into consideration the cost of each plane involved, the total  could top $1 million.

[G] Storm Flips Over Planes at Montgomery Field

There is currently a flash flood watch issued for the region with temperatures approximately 10 degrees cooler than yesterday in the inland valleys.

“It’s going to feel like 100 because of all that humidity,” said NBC 7’s Whitney Southwick.

There's lingering subtropical moisture and the atmosphere will become increasingly unstable with daytime heating, according to the National Weather Service.

So there is still a chance we could see another storm microburst like the ones that struck in Rancho San Diego and Kearny Mesa Tuesday. 

Whitney Southwick’s Weather Forecast September 17, 2014

San Diego Gas & Electric crews are working to restore power to hundreds of customers in different sections of the county.

Nearly half an inch of rain fell in Mission Valley and Kearny Mesa with Montgomery Field reporting more than an inch of rain Tuesday evening.

Rancho San Diego recorded .52 inches of precipitation while Rainbow Camp reported .63 inches. Areas near Fallbrook and Bonsall measured close to .20 inches of rain. 

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