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Freak Storm in Southland: It's Like Thunder, Lightning
Photo by chickpokipsie via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
After a thermometer-busting week, the Southland is getting rocked by thunder, rain, hail and the possibility of flash floods that will continue into Sunday, according to weather reports.
This morning a storm moved over Costa Mesa and into Huntington Beach, pelting Orange County residents with hail, before heading north.
"We heard the thunder and then all of a sudden we heard on the roof the slamming of the hail," Costa Mesa Police Officer J. Horn told L.A. Now. "They were good-sized hail — like big shooter marbles."
The storm is supposed to be especially bad in inland valleys and in the mountains. Frequent lightning and wind gusts up to 50 miles an hour are expected near Castaic Lake and Pyramid Lake.
It was bad north of the Grapevine, too. The Los Angeles County Fire Department tweeted this morning that they were helping out firefighters in Kern County, where a dry lightning storm sparked about 40 fires.
Sporadic power outages were reported, but Southern California Edison told the Associated Press that all electricity has been restored so far.
Be careful out there driving today. We're sure you know how to drive in rain and hail — it's all those other yahoos you gotta watch out for.
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