Flood — San Diego, California

2010-12-21 to 2010-12-23 · near Grantville, San Diego, California

Event narrative

The San Diego River at Fashion Valley has been above its flood stage of 11.3 feet since 1330 PST. A peak river stage of 14.01 feet was reported, making this a moderate flood event. The river flooding resulted in numerous closed roadways and portions of the Fashion Valley Mall parking facilities were under water. This river flooding also resulted in extensive flooding of the Qualcomm Stadium on Friars Road, including both the stadium itself and the surrounding parking lot. A total of about 1.5 million gallons of water had to be pumped out of that area, back into the river.

A flood channel overflowed, resulting in evacuations of 12 houses in Barrio Logan neighborhood in San Diego. Five people were evacuated from homes in Encanto due to stream flooding.

Wider weather episode

A large Pacific plume of moisture ahead of an advancing trough of low pressure brought heavy rain and periods of serious flooding for nearly a week. The plume of moisture responsible was a form of an Atmospheric River. The mountain areas, particularly the San Bernardino range, experienced record large rainfall totals and many areas of flash flooding, debris flows and mud slides. Most rivers in the county warning area reached flood stage. Other effects include numerous traffic collisions, roadway flooding and closures, swift water rescues, beach closures and millions of dollars in damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure. Along with numerous city and governor-declared States of Emergency, President Obama proclaimed a Federal disaster declaration for 10 counties in California, including all four counties comprising the SGX CWA.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.7937, -117.0998)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 272620. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.