December 7, 1997 - Throughout Orange County, 14,000 homes and businesses lost power during
the storm, an Edison Co. spokesman said.
In Newport Beach, two docks broke from their moorings, the Harbor Patrol
said, and debris ranging up to telephone-pole sized logs washed into the
Back Bay.
"Everything that's in the flood control is going to end up in the
bay," said Sgt. Karl Van Voigt. "I'm sure there's probably tons
of minor damage, but it will take days for the owners to find it all."
In Silverado Canyon, Ed and Leslie Amador, whose garden and driveway
on Thisa Way was washed away by a mudslide, packed up and left Saturday
night. If the mud didn't get them, they said, the boulders might.
"The reality we have to face is, this is the first storm of the
season," said Leslie Amador, 41. "We have a very long way to go."
Orange and Ventura counties were hit so hard by the storm and Los Angeles
County was seemingly spared thanks to simple geography, Etheredge said.
As the air slides up the mountains and hills in Orange and Ventura counties,
the terrain provides lift that increases the moisture in the storm clouds,
he said. By comparison, the basin that is Los Angeles has nothing to cause
that phenomenon, and the rain clouds dump their moisture before they have
a chance to get too heavy.
And altitude doesn't matter as much as terrain, Etheredge said. Even
the hills around Laguna each give the rain clouds "extra lift that
provides enough stimulus to provide more rain."
"It doesn't matter how high the mountains are, just that they are
there," he said. "With the way the coast faces and the way the
foothills and mountains face, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties got it
head-on."
Orange County has activated a public information number for residents
with flood problems: (714) 834-7285. The public is asked to call this number
and not 911.
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