San Diego County residents are finally getting some relief Saturday following Friday's downpour that closed highways and streets, damaged several businesses, caused trees to blow over and block roads, forced an evacuation of a Mission Valley hotel and caused many residents to be rescued from the floods, authorities said.
The slow-moving storm finally ended Friday afternoon after dumping record rains across the county for a week, the National Weather Service said.
The Palomar area received 8.4 inches of precipitation, Encinitas had 7.30 inches, Valley Center had 6.27 inches, Bonsall 6.26 and Carlsbad 6.14, the NWS said.
At 1 p.m. Friday, San Diego International Airport reported 3.50 inches of rain, the fourth wettest April in San Diego, according to the weather service.
In Mission Valley, The Riverleaf Inn on Hotel Circle Place was evacuated by the San Diego Police Department because of flooding.
Rescues of people from the flooding happened in Deer Springs in North County, a woman and her dogs near SDCCU Stadium in Mission Valley, a homeless man from an island in the river near Interstate 5, a Jeep driver who went into the Chollas Creek storm channel in the Stockton neighborhood of San Diego, and five people from Escondido Creek, public safety officials reported.
A massive tree fell Friday evening in Chula Vista, damaging a house and several vehicles, officials said. The eucalyptus tree fell just before 7 p.m. in the 400 block of Hilltop Drive. No injuries were reported.
A 50-year-old man was killed and his 17-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter were injured when a BMW they were in hit a tree Friday morning on Carmel Canyon Road in Carmel Valley. The crash closed state Route 78 in Oceanside for most of the day, according to CHP incident reports.
Officials said a temporary lane closure will be in place Saturday from 6 a.m. on both northbound and southbound Interstate 5 between Lomas Santa Fe Drive and Palomar Airport Road for pothole repairs in the outside freeway shoulders.
Rivers were slowly receding Saturday morning, the weather service said. The San Diego River peaked at 12 1/2 feet at 7 p.m. Friday and is forecast to fall below monitoring stage at 10 p.m.
"Today will continue to be rather cool as we dry out under weak upper ridging,'' San Diego forecasters said. "However, that is short-lived as we get grazed by another upper trough from the north on Sunday through Monday. This will deepen the marine layer and bring the possibility of drizzle or a few light showers west of the mountains as well as to the coastal mountain slopes,'' the NWS said.
