FROM: Les Sykes, 24411 Chrisanta Dr, Mission Viejo, Calif, 92691.

Hi. Just a bit of news from Southern California about the problems caused by the heavy rains in this area.

So far we have had about 38 inches of rainfall this winter which qualifies it as the second heaviest amount since records were started in the 1880s. Other areas have suffered far worse damage. A teenage girl sitting in her bedroom in her parents’ general store about five miles away in the canyons was killed by a large boulder which had been loosened by the rain and rolled down the hillside through the store and finished up in the road.

In the Anaheim Hills about ten miles away, several 4-6 million dollar homes were destroyed. Some under construction had to be demolished to save the others below them as they would have slid down on top of them. Quite a lot of wildlife such as rattle snakes, lizards, skunks and even racoons have been picked up on the beach about five miles away after getting caught up in the usually dry creek when the water started flowing rapidly.

Due to the large amount of rain bringing the nutrients with it, the roses and other shrubs are putting on a good show before they get burnt by the hot weather.

We will get back to when it is in the 80s to over 100f then we will have the dangerous fires due to the heavy growth of the bush areas. We in this city have been fortunate in years gone by but some cities and canyon dwellers have lost everything because the building codes are not so strict as here where we have to have concrete roof tiles and keep the bushes trimmed away from the dwellings. We have had a lot of tornado warnings this season as they start as water-spouts out to sea and show up on the dopler radar - nothing like the storms on the East Coast though as we only get earthquakes. I cannot remember anything happening like this in The Ridings.