When you see pictures of flooding in front of Squid Roe, it’s actually normal. I know, you’d think we would have some kind of “real” drainage system here to handle 1-2 inches of rain better than that. It’s not for lack of trying – for the record I’ve seen them put in drainage like down by Artisanos and I am sure there are more areas but none come to mind at this moment. But then, who builds a town in a dried up creek known as an arroyo? (oh yeah … paradise, for reals. It’s awesome here so uh, “we do!”) Let’s look at a topographical view of the Baja Peninsula below. I mean, really look at it.
In the center, you see we have mountains which is where it usually rains when the forecast calls for rain. Notice how it’s brown around the edge (before the obvious sand portions)? It’s brown because most of the time near the coast, we do not get the rain. The entire area slopes towards the ocean. Since water flows downhill … it naturally wants to flow towards the ocean and we are a seaside town.
So who is really effected by the rain? The people that live in or next to the creeks (arroyos) for starters (they are seriously effected and usually evacuated when it gets bad) and of course anyone with a reason to be downtown when it rains or they own/work at a business downtown.
So an inch or two of rain will temporarily make certain areas of downtown look like this (photo credit Ro Sanchez):
Roughly the same area, the very next morning and its important to note – that it barely rained late in the afternoon or barely at all during the night so the streets probably cleared up much earlier than 8am-ish when I took this pic (photo credit myself)
As soon as the water reaches the sea (the marina is basically a small block away), we (downtown) just have to dry out. But now you understand why we panic when they (the people with degrees hanging on their walls) tell us 6+ inches of rain.
Does anyone remember my blog with the pics showing the area by Squid Roe with the new pedestrian sidewalks and the traffic control poles? If not I’ll link it:
I did not venture out during the time leading up to when Tropical Storm Javier was approaching further than work so I didn’t head that way but I am really curious if anyone has pics of the pedestrian walk ways or just of the flooding that always occurs on Leona Vicario to Squid Roe. I am also curious if they removed the poles to allow people to avoid having to pass Squid Roe to get back towards Sunset Beach, Pedregal … and many many other communities. Oye on the “traffic control” on a sunny day! Seriously, I am curious if any of you drove through all of that and can verify if they left the poles up or not for vehicular traffic.
I think by now everyone knows the TS Javier basically lost all of his steam and we didn’t get what “they” said we would. Thankfully. (Reminder this is an old post, from 2016)
Our area goes a long long time without major storms and we “forget”. We become complacent. After Odile we are still a little jumpy. This is normal. I just hope that everyone continues to be ready for anything … it is not lame to find a way to store food and water for an emergency. The emergency may not even be your own … but it will be there to help if it is ever needed. The only last minute thing we should ever be doing is topping off our gas tanks and picking up a few items like fresh fruit and bread – if you’ve already stocked up on your non-perishables.
It doesn’t make you paranoid. It makes you ready. Then when the storm “doesn’t happen”, you are still ready for the next one.
Thankfully, there is nothing in our horizon at this time but a beautiful view.
Still deprived of a good nights sleep. Hope I made sense today haha I was actually trying to sound upbeat. (Several years later this is still true haha since this has been slightly edited in 2019)
~Jenn
This blog is for entertainment purposes only … Please refer to your local news source or authorities for emergencies and official weather/storm updates.
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from: Legacy Food Storage
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from: Legacy Food Storage
Great blog Jenn.
Thank you Mirek!