This story was originally Published in Inside Climate News and part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Imagine a minute hand at around 8 o'clock every hour. It's a slope in Beto's backyard in southern Los Angeles County. A little too aggressive to slip and slide. In fact, Beto doesn't even let her 7-year-old daughter play on the small patio at the back of her house.
“There's no need for her to fall off that hill,” he said.
When Beto and his wife bought their hilltop home five years ago, it was a victory, part of the “Hollywood Riviera,” as real estate agents like to call the area. (Beto, a self-employed marketer in his 40s, asked that his last name not be used to protect his family's privacy.)
Beto Street runs horizontally along a huge slope that begins on the stunning Palos Verdes Peninsula, lined with sheer cliffs and Mediterranean-style homes, at the southern end of Santa Monica Bay. If you squint, you might see the terraces of Tuscany or the Cote d'Azur. Although the address was a solid investment and home insurance was not an issue, parts of the peninsula have been known to change shape, with cracks in the roads and houses crumbling from their foundations. But not every day. The family enjoyed several years in Southern California, a perch with great views and a mild, dry climate.
“Every time it rained, we were happy and said, 'We're not in a severe drought anymore, yay!'” Beto said. “But after this, every time it rains, I get scared.”
“This” refers to the atmospheric river storm that hit Los Angeles in the first week of February with a one-two punch, the first a jab, the second a wallop. California's usual winter rainy season has been intensified this year by this parade of storms. This week, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties are in the midst of heavy rains that are amplified by rising temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, causing cracked roads and flash flooding. The storm is causing an unusual amount of damage and is worrying everyone, especially the Bethes.
After the first rains began on February 1, he noticed that the top of the slope in his backyard looked strange, covered in hand-high succulents called “ice plants.” Patches of mushy dirt appeared to be stripping away the ground cover. He asked the gardener to fix it. That was on Friday. And on Sunday, February 3rd, Monster Rain Cell moved in.
“The only thing I could hear all night was the pounding on the roof and the wind blowing to the side,” he said. “I was worried, so I woke up at 7:30 and the first thing I did was go look at the storm drains and make sure everything was OK.”
Beto had no reason to buy rain boots, so he went around the house in sneakers.
“I walked around to the backyard, looked down, and thought, 'Oh my God, that's amazing.'
A 40-foot-wide river of mud, rocks and tree roots spilled down his hill, clogging the city road 70 feet below and already snarling traffic where Beto managed to stand safely on the bluff. I was letting it happen.