First Storm of the Year

California had it's first storm of the winter starting Monday night but really kicking in on Tuesday.  I was at home all day since I had to work Tuesday night.  I listened to the wind and the rain come down.  There is a tree just outside my balcony that was being blown so hard it kept hitting the side of the apartment.  I was worried it was going to break the roof.  As far as I know it didn't.  When I did finally head out to work the storm had subsided and I was able to drive to work without rain or strong wind but I could tell the wind was starting to pick up.  When I turned on to White Rock road just before getting to work I almost hit a downed tree in the road.  There were other trees down and my work lost power for about 10 minutes Tuesday.  The generator kicked in so they were not down at all at least not the computer room.
The news said we got more than 3 inches of rain on Tuesday with winds gusting up to 56 miles an hour.
I went out and took pictures of the downed trees (except for the ones in the road which had been moved by the time I got out in the morning) and thought I would share them with you all.
These first two pictures are of a tree just outside my work and as you can see it just snapped off.  The trunk was probably at least 18 inches wide.

 This tree is in front of the buildings just off White Rock Road in front of my work as you can see it lost a big branch almost half the tree.

 

This tree was just across the street from the previous one and as you can see it took the whole tree down as well as the grass around the trunk.  This was a very large tree as you can see by the building and the cars and people in the background.

 

 As I sat down to write this blog the rain started up again just light at first but all of a sudden it started to just down pour.  I grabbed my camera and headed outside to see if I could get the storm.  Here are a few shots I got.

 

From my balcony but you can't really see just how hard it is raining.

The drainage canal that is "The Creek" for my apartment complex is running high and fast right now.  You can't even see the cement that is the bottom of the canal.

We really need the rain and I just love this kind of weather.  It's just too bad I have to be inside and sleep because I have to work again tonight.  Oh well it's just the beginning of the rainy season so hopefully we will have more great rain storms to come.