A powerful storm system that slowly made its way to San Diego County finally arrived overnight Friday with thunderstorms and heavy rain that caused some flooding and prompted at least one rescue while most of San Diego was asleep.
Thunderstorms moved in around midnight bringing flashes of lightning and heavy bursts of rain to most parts of the county, particularly along the coast. The National Weather Service recorded 31 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in San Diego County and more than 130 lightning bursts over coastal waters.
While the brunt of the system hit San Diego overnight, some scattered showers could continue throughout the day Friday.
“As of 3:30 a.m., we’re looking much dryer. A lot of that rain overnight is much of the rain we’re going to be getting out of this storm system,” NBC 7’s Meteorologist Sheena Parveen said.
The city of San Diego had been working for the last several days to prepare for this portion of the storm by closing streets that are prone to flooding. Several streets were closed in the Mission Valley area, and some near Fashion Valley remained closed Friday afternoon.
A woman and her dog had to be rescued from a storm channel in El Cajon early Friday as they were caught in flood waters. Heartland Fire told NBC 7 the woman was taken to a local hospital. Her condition is unknown.
In Carlsbad, a couple of roads were closed temporarily overnight due to “multiple road hazards caused by the storm,” Carlsbad Police said. By 5:45 a.m. the roads were reopened for the morning commute.
Even though most of the rain is through, some streets and areas near rivers could still experience flooding. A flood watch was still in effect until Friday afternoon.
The storm system started light, with just a few scattered showers on Tuesday and Wednesday. The heaviest showers reached the region late Thursday, bringing isolated thunderstorms.
Some regions like Point Loma received up to 0.63 inches of rain and Shelter Island saw 0.64 inches of rain overnight, according to the National Weather Service.
Parveen said the storm is still not out of San Diego County completely and we are still expected to see some scattered showers and possible thunderstorms through Friday throughout the afternoon and temperatures are expected to be cool.
As we head into Christmas Eve weekend, Parveen said we can expect Sunday to be dry and a little cool at night with the coast in the high 40s. On Christmas Day, will mostly be sunny, with upper 60s along the coast.
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