As the rain eases...

The loss of property and life is terribly sad, reminding me of last years events in the San Bernardino mountains. The Ventura Country Star has a whole bunch of coverage including videos and photos from La Conchita and elsewhere around the county while the LAT covers the growing blame game which is going to cost the county. The search in La Conchita will likely resume as soon as the sun is up.

The Star also has a very good editorial today: Brutal storm brings havoc. While recounting the basic events they advised people to stay out of the way and let the professionals deal with mess without adding to it. I'd missed the story about the city of Ventura moving a bunch of homeless out of the river bottom in November, but it's almost an annual event now. The homeless setup camps in the wild vegetation on the banks of the river during the dry parts of the year and then need to be shooed out before they drown in the winter.

It seems the worst of this storm is over according to the National Weather Service although there is another big storm coming this way (see the West CONUS image at the Geostationary Satellite Server; here's the current loop).

The winter is shaping up to be a lot like the 1994-1995 storm series which just kept coming for several months. We shall see.