Cleaning out the Gutters
Recent thunderstorms, floods, and advisories of tornadoes shook Southern California residents, particularly Santa Monica College.
During this past week, Southern California underwent a storm that caused damages that ranged up to $500 million dollars.
Not only did the storm affect students and faculty at Santa Monica College, but it also affected many other people ranging from businessmen to homeowners, particularly those living in Los Angeles.
"My garage got flooded, but I don't keep anything in there," said SMC student Alan Balileo.
According to KTLA5.com, Mayor James K. Hahn mentioned that 33 homes, half in the Glassell Park area, where deemed uninhabitable. This is partly due to an increase in mudslides that affected that area and other areas, like La Chonchita.
The La Conchita incident ignited the wave of mainstream media to focus more on alerting residents of Southern California about mudslides that could affect their homes.
Homes were not the only ones being affected by the storm. The death toll of people afflicted by the storm was at least nine.
Schools across Southern California, like Occidental College of Los Angeles, suffered power outages that resulted in two-thirds of classes being interrupted. Students improvised ways to deal with the storm, like using candles as a source of light, according to the LATimes.com.
SMC suffered no damage due to the recent storm, but it did leave a mark on some students.
"My car had rain stains on it, and that was pretty much it," said Balileo.
Many students can relate to this because of little parking being offered by the school. Most cars have to park outside and rain pretty much affects them all.
Traffic jams brought about by the storm posed further problems. At SMC, students had to endure traffic jams surrounding the SMC campus streets.
Freeways and coastal highways alike suffered complete shutdowns or having to wait hours to pass on by.
Pacific Coast Highway between Topanga Canyon and Big Rock Road was closed due a mudslide.
In another incident, a boulder caused the closing of Malibu Canyon Road. The coastal highway was shutdown for a period of time giving crews time to break through the boulder.
According to the Santa Monica Mirror, the closing of Malibu Canyon Road caused by a mudslide has affected many people.
The Santa Monica Mirror also reported that the recent weather, such as thunderstorms and water sprouts, has marked a record-breaking rainy season that Santa Monica and other areas have endured.
SMC students had a small break from the recent weather this weekend. The National Weather Institute indicated that there would be a 20 percent chance of rain that may occur this weekend. What weekend is this? Story comes out on Wednesday, so this prediction should be for the weekend of the 5th of March!
SMC Student Isaias Rojas said that the change in weather would mean that he would be able to go out this weekend without having to worry much about the rain.
"This weekend, I will relax and hang out with my friends, without thinking about a wet weekend."
However, some people say that this is just the eye of the storm.