Forgive my impatience, but when is El Nino going to show up? This is starting to remind me of the “world will end at midnight” frenzy of 1999 where everyone stocked up on survival supplies, backed up their hard drives, took a bunch of cash out of the bank expecting everything run by computers to crash over the date change to 2000 and then like a bad Geraldo Rivera special, nothing happened.
The last major El Nino we had in 1997-98 I remember vividly, mostly because we had a large dog at the time who hated getting his paws wet. At one point it rained for two weeks solid and when I wasn’t keeping the backyard drains clear, I spent a lot of it outside under an umbrella trying to coax a 90 pound American Bulldog to venture out with me to do his business. If you were around a few El Ninos ago in 1982-83, that was a doozy, causing major damage and taking several piers down including Huntington Beach and Seal Beach’s.
I’ve heard the stories in Huntington Harbour of boats still attached to docks going down the main channel and out to sea when the water rose so high from either off coming down the flood channels, a high tide, or a combination of both, the collars slipped off their dock posts. (You’ll notice a lot of dock pilings have concrete extensions added to the tops now!) While some original owners have no knowledge of any Harbour homes ever flooding, others have said they definitely had “squishy carpets” from water intrusion.
So far, this El Nino has been all talk and no action as it seems the weather system that’s supposed to bring torrential rain and blankets of snow is content to hang out somewhere over the ocean and just send interesting fish into our local waters. Every news outlet and weather forecaster is jumping up and down like Henny Penny insisting the sky will be falling but nobody can say with any certainty exactly when. The latest speculation is it’s going to start raining sometime in January. In the meantime, we’ve all been following the Boy Scouts motto to “be prepared.” Sand berms have been put up and standing at the ready on the beaches since October. The cities of Huntington Beach and Seal Beach are offering fill-your-own sandbags to residents (contact each city for locations and hours.) Gutters are cleared of debris, roofs have been repaired, we’re stocked up on rubber boots and umbrellas at my house.
After the most recent King Tides caused storm drains to back up and fill some of the streets around Huntington Harbour with seawater, a couple of my neighbors have purchased flood insurance policies. (Which don’t take effect for the first 30 days so they’re just fine with the forecast of nothing happening until January. Ditto for the Huntington Harbour Philharmonic Committee, who would be very grateful to not have any rain dampening the crowds for its 53rd Annual Cruise of Lights which runs from December 17-23.)
While we can do without any catastrophes, a healthy dose of rain is overdue to help alleviate the drought situation. If this El Nino doesn’t pan out, we will be in for a summer with serious water restrictions. With all the hype, it’ll be a great disappointment if we don’t get the precipitation promised, and soon. In Big Bear they call snow “white gold” and are undoubtedly getting very impatient waiting for Mother Nature’s jackpot as the ski season has already begun.
Barring any rain dances that may be effective (although washing my car seems to bring about a shower more often than not), all we can do is be ready, wait, and hope the weather predictions will prove correct at some point as we enjoy the sunshine and warm weather most of the nation envies us for.
Lara Anderson is a resident of Huntington Harbour, former mayor of Dana Point, and a Real Estate Broker. She can be reached at (949) 677-4099 or email: LA@AndersonSeaside.com.
Forgive my impatience, but when is El Nino going to show up? This is starting to remind me of the “world will end at midnight” frenzy of 1999 where everyone stocked up on survival supplies, backed up their hard drives, took a bunch of cash out of the bank expecting everything run by computers to crash over the date change to 2000 and then like a bad Geraldo Rivera special, nothing happened.
The last major El Nino we had in 1997-98 I remember vividly, mostly because we had a large dog at the time who hated getting his paws wet. At one point it rained for two weeks solid and when I wasn’t keeping the backyard drains clear, I spent a lot of it outside under an umbrella trying to coax a 90 pound American Bulldog to venture out with me to do his business. If you were around a few El Ninos ago in 1982-83, that was a doozy, causing major damage and taking several piers down including Huntington Beach and Seal Beach’s.
I’ve heard the stories in Huntington Harbour of boats still attached to docks going down the main channel and out to sea when the water rose so high from either off coming down the flood channels, a high tide, or a combination of both, the collars slipped off their dock posts. (You’ll notice a lot of dock pilings have concrete extensions added to the tops now!) While some original owners have no knowledge of any Harbour homes ever flooding, others have said they definitely had “squishy carpets” from water intrusion.
So far, this El Nino has been all talk and no action as it seems the weather system that’s supposed to bring torrential rain and blankets of snow is content to hang out somewhere over the ocean and just send interesting fish into our local waters. Every news outlet and weather forecaster is jumping up and down like Henny Penny insisting the sky will be falling but nobody can say with any certainty exactly when. The latest speculation is it’s going to start raining sometime in January. In the meantime, we’ve all been following the Boy Scouts motto to “be prepared.” Sand berms have been put up and standing at the ready on the beaches since October. The cities of Huntington Beach and Seal Beach are offering fill-your-own sandbags to residents (contact each city for locations and hours.) Gutters are cleared of debris, roofs have been repaired, we’re stocked up on rubber boots and umbrellas at my house.
After the most recent King Tides caused storm drains to back up and fill some of the streets around Huntington Harbour with seawater, a couple of my neighbors have purchased flood insurance policies. (Which don’t take effect for the first 30 days so they’re just fine with the forecast of nothing happening until January. Ditto for the Huntington Harbour Philharmonic Committee, who would be very grateful to not have any rain dampening the crowds for its 53rd Annual Cruise of Lights which runs from December 17-23.)
While we can do without any catastrophes, a healthy dose of rain is overdue to help alleviate the drought situation. If this El Nino doesn’t pan out, we will be in for a summer with serious water restrictions. With all the hype, it’ll be a great disappointment if we don’t get the precipitation promised, and soon. In Big Bear they call snow “white gold” and are undoubtedly getting very impatient waiting for Mother Nature’s jackpot as the ski season has already begun.
Barring any rain dances that may be effective (although washing my car seems to bring about a shower more often than not), all we can do is be ready, wait, and hope the weather predictions will prove correct at some point as we enjoy the sunshine and warm weather most of the nation envies us for.
Lara Anderson is a resident of Huntington Harbour, former mayor of Dana Point, and a Real Estate Broker. She can be reached at (949) 677-4099 or email: LA@AndersonSeaside.com.
