After waves of rainfall created a sea of troubles for San Diego County residents, many wanted to focus on the storm clouds’ silver lining: Did this downpour do anything to relieve Southern California’s drought?
Unfortunately, city officials told NBC 7 Monday that the impact is minimal, though the rain did break records.
Sutherland Reservoir, east of Lake Wohlford, received the most rainfall compared to other reservoirs in the county — two inches. Halla Razak, the director of San Diego’s Public Utilities, said those two inches provide enough water to sustain 800 to 1,200 families for a year.
Lower Otay Lake, which is one of the fullest reservoirs at 75 percent capacity, received one inch of rainfall. Razak said although it may have felt like a lot of showers, especially for this time of year, it will make a very small impact on the drought.
"We have had a very severe drought for four years,” Razak said. “And it's going to take years of sustained precipitation and snowfall to really get us out of the drought we're in.”
Meanwhile, cleanup continued Monday at flooded homes, streets and yards. In one of the hardest hit areas, Ramona, the San Vicente Golf Course closed for the day after its bridge that is normally used by golf carts was completely dislodged by water.
People who live in and around Ramona called it one of the wildest weekends of weather they’d ever seen. Videos and pictures showed a storage shed floating down a road and cars submerged in several feet of water.
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By Monday morning, bulldozers started cleaning up piles of mud along Gunn Stage Road in San Diego Country Estates.
“Yeah, lots of cleanup and we have to find out if insurance covers it or the city covers it. We don’t know. So it’s all unknown,” said Kerrilee Mair, whose fence and retaining wall was wiped out by flash floods.
A creek along State Route 78 turned into a river, creating a pile of tree trunks and logs at one point.
Residents living nearby said that creek is usually running dry.
“It was something else,” said Robert Ball, “and the logs were coming down like you wouldn't believe. I saw trees uprooted down there. And man it was a mess."
Locals expect cleanup efforts to continue through Tuesday.
