In what is usually Southern California's driest month, the region suddenly received a weekend of summer storms. An unusual downpour began on Saturday, with scattered rain showers, thunder and lightning, causing the temporary closure of beaches from Long Beach to Zuma.
Several thousand homes were left without electricity as tropical storm Dolores spread monsoonal moisture through Los Angeles and into Orange County and the San Gabriel Valley.
Lightning strikes prompted authorities to close the beaches shortly after 8 a.m. and then reopen them a few minutes before 10 a.m. A few hours later, just after 2 p.m., a second round of beach closures along Los Angeles County was issued.
L.A. County beaches are typically packed, but that changed on Saturday as the threat of lightning strikes restricted 70 miles of beaches. Even the popular Santa Monica Pier was not spared and had to be closed on Saturday afternoon.
The storm caused problems in the air, too. An Alaska Airlines jetliner was said to be hit by lightning shortly after takeoff and had to return to the Los Angeles International Airport for an emergency landing.
According to airline spokesperson Bobbie Egan, the Boeing 737, which was heading to Washington, D.C., returned "out of an abundance of caution" and made a safe landing. There were 159 passengers on board.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Oxnard reported incidents such as a road being blocked by mud in the mountain community of Frazier, after enduring an hour of rainfall, which brought around one inch of rain. Meanwhile, downtown Los Angeles received around a quarter-inch of rain, while the mountains of Ventura County had as much as 2 inches. The NWS has issued a number of watches and warnings.
The storm hasn't been all bad, though. Firefighters were able to take advantage of all the water, which helped them advance on a pair of wildfires that erupted in the region on Friday.
"Our weekend weather will be heavily influenced by Tropical Storm Dolores," said Shanna Mendiola of NBC4. "We will also see high surf at our beaches and an increase in our humidity."
The summer tropical storm is predicted to continue bringing more rainfall to the region through Monday.
