Long Beach experienced record-breaking rain on Sunday, with 3.87 inches of rainfall bringing flooding and prompting freeway closures. All directions of the 710 Freeway closed at PCH in the early afternoon on Sunday and didn’t fully reopen until shortly after 3 a.m. on Monday.
The Sunday storm was the third of a series of storms making their way through Southern California. Throughout Downtown Long Beach some intersections became flooded and Long Beach Fire Department warned to avoid driving through flooded areas.
“It’s not often we see higher rainfall totals on the coast than in the mountains,” Brett Albright, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office told the LA Times. “It’s not a normal event. It was definitely a culmination of the perfect circumstances: We had a very intense atmospheric river with a lot of moisture and an area of lift in the atmosphere right over coastal Los Angeles and Orange counties. It forced all of that moisture out.”
The previous Long Beach rainfall record within one day was set in 1995 at 3.75 inches. Today, the forecast is calling for isolated heavy downpours, possible thunderstorms and heavy snowfall in the local mountains, while flash flood watches remain in effect locally for most of the day. CSULB and all LBUSD schools will be open.
Since Oct. 1, 2016, we have received 13.52 inches of rain — 216% of the usual rainfall in this period, which all spells good news for the California draught.