Rain! Rain!! Rain!!!

UPDATE, 2 P.M.: Just drove through Carbon Canyon from the Brea side and there is a lot of material washing down from the steep, fire-degraded and waterlogged slopes west of Olinda Village along Carbon Canyon Road.

Significant mud and other debris is washing onto Carbon Canyon Road west of Olinda Village as shown in this photo from just fifteen minutes ago.  We'll see if there'll be any closures upcoming this afternoon and evening.

A CalTrans truck has been scraping the bottom of the hillside and a Brea Police Department truck is along the road, too.  At the moment, the sun is shining through and there are intermittent bursts of rain, but if another round of precipitation is coming, there could potentially be problems, as a commenter to this post asked about a couple of hours ago.

We'll see how the afternoon and evening go.

A detail of exposed hillsides ravaged by fire and scoured by recent heavy rains, providing many paths for mud and debris to wash down onto Carbon Canyon Road this afternoon.

The title of this post comes from an 1860s headline in the Los Angeles Star newspaper reflecting the joy and relief when a major rain storm descended upon a parched and drought-stricken Los Angeles which slaked its thirst on the drops denied the region for almost all of two years in 1863 and 1864.

In fact, the recent drought is the worst since that time--150 years ago--but we are getting the opportunity to receive some major rainfall here with the latest storm hitting our area today.

Walking up from the bus stop at the corner of Carbon Canyon Road and Rosemary Lane and looking behind the Sleepy Hollow Community Center, it was great to see some activity in one of the prettier spots in Carbon Canyon, a rock-lined waterfall spilling down from the upper reaches of the community down to the bottom.

A decent little flow of water descends a pretty waterfall right in Sleepy Hollow behind the community center in a photo taken about a half-hour ago.

Whereas in pre-Sleepy Hollow days, this fall emptied naturally into Carbon [Canyon] Creek, the water now runs down a concrete channel to one side of the community building, goes under Rosemary Lane, follows another channel under Carbon Canyon Road, goes through the former home of Sleepy Hollow's founders, Cleve and Elizabeth Purington, and then flows into the creek.

In fact, looking out the window at the creek right now, a nice little flow is observed as the water makes it way southwestward.

That little glimpse at the beautiful natural feature of the waterfall, hidden as it is by the community center, and the enjoyment of what is, at the moment, a steady rain, is another reminder of what is so great about living in Carbon Canyon.

Another view of the Sleepy Hollow waterfall.

The drought is, obviously, not going to be erased because of these storms--one source stated it would have to rain steadily every other day for three years for that to happen--but every little bit of rain makes it that much easier to deal with the historically dry conditions we're experiencing.