Current Weather Systems
California, cut power to thousands
ASSOCIATED PRESS
3:06 p.m. October 17, 2005
LOS ANGELES – Thunderstorms pounded Southern California with lightning-streaked downpours of rain and big hail Monday, knocking out power to thousand of customers and snarling traffic.
Hail nearly 1½ inches in diameter hit suburban Arcadia and pea-size hail freckled Hollywood Hills neighborhoods.
A severe storm warning was issued in northwestern Los Angeles County at midafternoon. The National Weather Service said Doppler radar showed weak rotation in the storm although no tornado was immediately seen.
Traffic accidents tied up freeways, including an apparently weather-related gasoline tanker crash and fire on Interstate 5 that killed the driver shortly before 2 a.m.
Flash flood concerns were raised in areas denuded by big wildfires in late September and early this month, when Southern California was under the spell of dry heat wave.
About 120,000 Southern California Edison customers had outages, mostly lasting from seconds to minutes, between late Sunday and Monday afternoon, when about 9,000 remained without electricity. Most of the outages were in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
In the city of Los Angeles, more than 10,000 electricity customers had experienced outages, the Department of Water and Power said. Most of the outages were brief.
The fall storm began sending showers into the region late Saturday and on Sunday, then unleashed a barrage of cannon-shot thunderclaps and deluges early Monday.
An upper-level, low-pressure system 200 miles southwest of Los Angeles was slowly approaching Southern California and was expected to move in during the night, then depart the region on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20051017-1506-ca-socalstorm.html
New storm gains strength near Caymans
By JAY EHRHART
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands -- Residents were on alert but "not panicking" as the outer edge of Tropical Storm Wilma neared the Cayman Islands on Monday, the record-tying 21st named system of the season.
Schools and businesses were open and skies were mostly clear, but authorities urged people to be alert as the storm moved closer to the island chain, which was badly damaged in Hurricane Ivan last year.
"We're waiting with bated breath to see what will happen," said Brent Santha, vice president of a water company. "We're hoping and praying it will change direction."
Forecasters predicted the storm would move within 70 miles of Grand Cayman, the largest island in the chain, on Tuesday afternoon - at which point it could be a Category 1 hurricane.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Tropical_Weather_Caymans.html
