At dinner, I had Wanda pull up the weather satellite system for NORAD, still partially working. What we saw on the screen was obvious. Something that had started to occur in El Niño more and more as the waters off South and Central America reached record temperatures.

A hurricane had been building and moving up the coast heading directly for Los Angeles and points beyond. The storm even had a name, Caylee. Automatically selected by the NORAD AI system naming storms of the satellite images, projecting both future path and trail. The storm was overpowering the cold waters of the Pacific Current and was due to make landfall in the morning.

As tired as I was, I couldn't sleep, thinking what might happen. I wanted our men and women to be out there finishing our catchment systems like we had at the port. Work delayed by us while we were working the last three days there rather than here. From what I heard from collaborating, everyone was awake and trying to figure out how to catch more water.

At dawn, when I looked out, outer bands had already buffeted our elevated location just off the coast. Outside, from my sliding glass door, I could see rivers of water rushing down through the garden already.

Getting outside, sheltered from the strong wind on the patio behind the building, I could clearly see the main wall of the storm approaching within an hour. All the time we had left to secure everything loose before the brunt of the storm would hit.

Before long, the wind was howling like a banshee and anything loose like some of our gutters, were rattling in the wind. Our windmills automatically switched to feathering to avoid damage from spinning too fast and our solar panels were in danger of being ripped off their mountings. I watched our fruit trees being whipped around by the wind, losing branches, fruit and nuts that weren't ready for harvest yet.

Fortunately, the storm was moving quickly and we were in the eye of the storm with bright sunlight and calm over the noon hour. We took the opportunity to make a few quick repairs before the wind began to blow again. The backside of the storm came again and we received as much rain as before noon.

By late afternoon, the storm had moved on, but had left its mark with some of our windows broken, tile ripped off the roofs, and, worst of all, some damage to some of the solar panels providing us with electric power.

The storm had completely knocked out city power to our community and I didn't expect it to come back on. There was an urgent need to make sure every home had complete solar/wind power. It would be dark soon, but the time we had left during the beautiful sunset, was spent assessing the damage and figuring out where to get what we would need to fix it in the coming days.

When I checked, the cistern at my house was full and so was the one at Derek's house. Other cisterns on the block were either full or nearly full. That was the good news. The bad news was, a third of the community had no electric power and needed it to run their air conditioning units in the very hot days to come.

I called Van and he informed me they had damage to the fish market stalls and some of the solar panels and catchment systems we had installed. Their newly planted beds were washed out and needed to be replanted. His good news was that all of the cisterns we had installed were full and could be used throughout the summer without further trips to get water.

When he heard, Ray agreed to spend another day there helping them replant the planters. When he inquired, Van told him that newcomers had told him there was a lot of flooding in the streets, but everyone who was without water was very happy to drink the possibly contaminated water after not having any for so long.

We begin work immediately, and by nightfall, had made a number of repairs already.

But when I returned for dinner and we took another look at NORAD, it was a bit disturbing because the hurricane had turned into a tropical storm and stalled up against the Sierras. I worried for Gramps. When I called, I couldn't reach him. It kept me awake.

But about 5 am I got a familiar call and it was Gramps.

"Hello Gramps," I said with sleep still on my voice and my eyes half closed.

"Drake! Is that you? This dang phone hasn't been working all night. Thought I'd never reach you. It's getting light here and still raining cats and dogs since yesterday and all night long. The whole damn valley is flooded! Never seen anything like it! It's right up to my porch doorstep and the barn and shed are flooded with at least 3 feet of water. All of our livestock is standing in water and mostly trying to find something to climb up on. Only the goats are able to do that.

"I'm going to need a lot of help to clean this mess up and replant my garden. I'm afraid my other crops are ruined. How soon can you come? Are you still there…" I could hear his rapid, raspy breathing and see his anxiety on his phone lit face.

"Yeah, Gramps, I'm here. But we can't come to help you as long as it's raining. And we can't drive through 3 feet of water, even with our trucks. So, call me when the water subsides so we can come in on the roads to help you."

"Does sound like a plan, son. Guess I'll have to hold out here for as long as it takes. Would hate to have that dirty water come up any further and into the house. I'd better busy myself getting everything up off the floor, what's left after those bastards tried to take everything I have…"

"But please call in the meantime, if you have to. We'll head out to the Valley filled with supplies as soon as we hear from you again that the coast is clear. In the meantime, we've got a lot of fixing to do here for what this hurricane has done. But we're okay, just behind on our upgrades and repairs."

"Okay, I'll call. Bye for now…"

"Bye." I sighed, most aware that things could get a lot worse for him if it continued to rain.

Another sleepless night. I had made the repairs on the house and thought I would take Ray down to the port to assess the damage along the way and what Van had to deal with. 

I was shocked when we reached commercial corners where all of the plastic signs were ripped away or damaged leaving a lot more debris in parking lots and streets than before. I was dodging roof tiles, whole solar panels, miscellaneous wood trim and other debris in the streets, too. Huge oaks tipped over and even palm trees lying on their sides. Some blocking the road until I pushed them out of the way. Things were now a lot worse navigating around town.

Even Cal 1 was filled with windblown pieces that could puncture tires or fly up when run over and hit windows. Driving was a whole new ballgame. I told Ray…

"I'm going to have to mount some kind of plow on the front of this truck if we're going to clear off the streets and roads we travel every day."

"Yeah, look down at that water washing out the street below! We are going to be running into some streets that have been damaged from that storm runoff."

"Now that you mention it, I'm gonna drive a little further and take a look at the Los Angeles River. What do you think?"

"Drake, I'm in no hurry to get to the work at the port, I'm as curious as you are. Let's go."

I took the 710 and soon we were approaching what had been the familiar concrete ditch seen in so many movies. Sometimes, with only a trickle of a stream running down the center for stunt drivers and the foolhardy like I had been to drive through, spraying water high until I hit a sunken oil can and damaged the under carriage of my dad's new electric Genesis.

I explained to Ray. "I was only 16 and caught hell from my dad when he had to get a tow truck and I had to pay for an expensive repair. If he could see me now?" I started to tear up with that remark when what we saw ahead surprised us.

For a half-mile from the LA River's concrete banks it was flooded! The scope of the flood was massive. As we drew closer and came up to the river, turning north and following it we could clearly see the raging torrent below.

Only in movies or news reports had I seen such a sight! The river was over the banks and spreading outward from the main muddy swirling current carrying trees, automobiles, parts of and whole houses. It was obvious that reservoirs were either overflowing or may have been breached.

"Ray, get some videos from your side. We need to take them back home and show them to everyone. I don't think a dam broke, yet, but if one does the flooding here could be even greater and could reach all the way to the port!"

I looked at Ray and he looked back. He could sense the concern I had in my eyes. He had that same concern in his. We drove on seeing bridges at street level either clogged with floating debris or even ripped out. I wondered about anyone who had been staying near the river to get water. They may have been overwhelmed and drowned in the night after struggling just to get water for so long.

We continued on to 101. Taking it, it was a mile or two before I could exit and return the other way. Fifteen minutes later, we were taking the exit leading to the port. I didn't see any flooding, but a lot more debris in the streets. Some of it up against our barriers blocking streets.

Thankfully, the Rambler looked the same. Much of its exposed equipment and rigging was meant for high winds.

We hailed Van shortly after passing through the manned checkpoint where they were glad to see Ray coming back.

"Van, how are you doing? I brought Ray."

"Thanks, Drake. It was a rough night, but we got through it okay. There was some street flooding from water that came all the way down from Hollywood. But it was on the roofs where we sustained the most wind and rain damage. Some broken windows in our residence we are replacing already."

I showed him the video of what we took of the LA River.

"Van, that is less than 5 miles away at Long Beach. You need to tell your people to be close to climbing if a dam breaks somewhere upstream and the water comes down the river watershed. It would be really devastating for you. So keep your guard up. Fortunately, the Rambler probably wouldn't be bothered at all."

"Thanks for the warning and bringing Ray back to us."

Ray, a bit rankled, replied, "I volunteered. Drake just came along for the ride." We chuckled.

"He's right, I'll be getting back to our compound and will pick up Ray whenever he wants to get back to work with us. Okay?"

"In the meantime, have you got a load of fish and seafood that we can take up to the Valley with us when we go in a few days?"

Van smiled. "Yeah, two boats came in yesterday, loaded. Just before the hurricane hit, thank Buddha. We've got more than enough for a truckload in cold storage. Do you need a refrigerated truck?"

"Yes, and probably a driver who's willing to drive up into redneck country." We all laughed.

Ray and Van walked off with Van explaining what was damaged and what needed be done. I hopped back in the truck and returned to the compound. Thinking a lot more about the Valley being flooded and the LA River drowning people just trying to survive.

I tried to put the thoughts out of my mind and on the work we had to do. It didn't work.

Copyright 2023 © Ronald W. Hull

7/21/23