Weather service issues flood advisory until 4:30 Sunday afternoon

A summer thunderstorm is drenching Ramona Sunday afternoon, adding to the 1.18 inches of rain the National Weather Service reported at Ramona Airport on Saturday.

Saturday’s thunderstorms smashed assumptions that it never rains in Southern California this time of year, and, City News Service reports, drowned records and left the record books with some unusual statistics.

According to the National Weather Service, the previous precipitation record for July 18 was set in 1922, when a mere 0.01 of an inch of rain hit the region.

That record was drowned by the 1.03 inches recorded at Lindbergh Field, the wettest July day since data collection in the area began in 1850.

In just one day, the remnants of Hurricane Dolores also made this month the wettest July in the county’s history, the weather service said.

James Thomas of the National Weather Service described the recent system as an anomaly, exacerbated by warm temperatures and high pressure brought by Dolores.

This caused the San Diego region to be thunderstruck repeatedly. The National Weather Service counted nearly 1,800 lightning events, 528 of which hit the ground.

The lightning disrupted power for more than 14,000 San Diego Gas and Electric customers, primarily within the San Diego City limits.

Disruptions also happened on county highways.

California Highway Patrol did not release official numbers of weather-related accidents, but its incident log from Saturday was four pages in length and had about 50 events on each one, City News Service reported.

A witness told City News Service that it took him almost four hours to travel from the Hotel Circle to Orange County.

Additionally, a house was severely damaged by a tree knocked over by the heavy wind and lightning in Tierrasanta. No one was injured, San Diego Fire- Rescue said.

Other weather-related damages included floods, mudslides, sinkholes, and event cancellations. Total damage costs were not released.