NORTH COUNTY -- A Pacific storm brought rain, flooding, mud and rockslides Sunday. Some Oceanside residents felt the force of the storm most dramatically when a damaging water spout touched down and briefly became a tornado, according to a National Weather Service spokesman.
The storm also broke a record number of days this year that Lindbergh Field in San Diego had been without measurable rain. The last rain reported was April 17 but that does not include light sprinkles or drizzle, National Weather Service forecaster Brandt Maxwell said.
Flooding and other problems were reported in the inland areas of North County, but the most powerful evidence of the storm was in South Oceanside where a water spout born over the nearby ocean became a havoc-wreaking whirlwind for one neighborhood before it dissipated.
"I'm calling it a tornado," said Nancy Salisbury, who lives on Clementine Street.
Her next door neighbor Marty Porter happened to be outside and saw it about 6:45 a.m.
"It looked kinda like a funnel cloud," Porter said. "It was just a gray thing because it was still a little dark."
Porter said he was impressed with it at first, then quickly went inside when he noticed it heading for his home.
From there, he said he saw his neighbor's metal storage shed in the house across from him, get lifted up and carried over the power lines, then fall to the ground in the street in front of his home.
Next, he said the same neighbor's back fence blew down as well as the siding from an enclosed porch in the back yard. All the items on the porch were blown onto the street.
Porter said he lost some tiles from his roof and a fence gate and his cat was even picked up briefly by the wind.
On Nevada Street, Stephanie and John Parisi said they lost several trees and part of their back fence. The wind came into their home through open windows and caused paper and small items inside to fly around.
"It seemed like it was 10 seconds long," John Parisi said.
After forming over the Pacific, the water spout moved in a northeast direction, he said. On South Coast Highway, Hill Street Donut House and H Johnson Furniture had windows broken out.
Stephanie Parisi, said she awoke to howling winds and rattling windows. Something dented their metal garage door and their patio umbrella was blown over the house and onto the front of their neighbor's home across the street.
Denise Douglas, who also lives on Nevada Street, had 20 feet of a 60-foot palm tree break off, narrowly missing her home.
Fire Capt. Mike Snyder said the wind had already blown through when crews at Fire Station No. 2 on Cassidy Street were called for help. The firefighters assisted residents in clearing the streets of debris until city crews arrived to finish the job.
No injuries were reported.
Maxwell said water spouts strike land infrequently and usually dissipate fast.
Inland flooding woes
Further inland, early-morning rain flooded at least three houses in San Diego Country Estates southeast of Ramona, state forestry officials said.
The rain flowed quickly off of areas affected by last year's wildfires, sending ankle-deep mud into a house on the 25000 block of Pappas Road. Houses on nearby Rutherford Road and Kerri Lane were also flooded and others required sandbags, California Department of Forestry spokesman Matt Streck said.
Sandbag crews from the Department of Corrections were working to protect nearby houses noon Sunday.
Homeowner David McMahon said he was frustrated that county flood control efforts had not included a drain pipe sufficient to divert water away from his house. His house was flooded for the first time in February, he said.
Streck said sandbags were available to area residents to protect their home from mudslides. The sandbags can be picked up from fire stations at 24462 San Vicente Road and 3410 Dye Road.
Some minor rockslides were also reported on the South Grade of Palomar Mountain, Maxwell said.
Wrecks, outages and spills
The rain also caused a sewage pipe to break at 6 a.m. Sunday, spilling 750 gallons into Cottonwood Creek that flowed onto Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, a county spokesman said. The spill happened when rainwater got into the site of a sewer pipe replacement project and broke an old pipe.
The California Highway Patrol was also inundated with calls about motor vehicle crashes. Most of those reported in North County involved minor injuries, CHP Sgt. Scott Payson said.
"We had four to five times as many calls as we normally do," Payson said. "People won't slow down when they're driving in the rain."
Highway 78 also was flooded at Emerald Drive and that contributed to some crashes, Payson said.
Countywide, rain-related outages affected an estimated 7,000 customers Sunday morning, a San Diego Gas & Electric spokesman said.
The numbers and what's ahead
In the North County, the rain started around 3 a.m. Sunday and subsided at around 8 a.m. More rainfall came late in the afternoon and evening.
"It gave us a lot more rainfall than we would expect in October," Maxwell said.
The most rain was reported in the Skyline Ranch, east of Valley Center, at 2.56 inches as of 4 p.m., he said. As of 4 p.m., Vista reported 1.55 inches, Palomar Mountain had 1.81 inches, Carlsbad got 0.66 inches, Escondido had 0.50 inches -- which was the average rainfall in most places, Del Mar reported 0.40 inches, Rancho Bernardo had 0.35 inches and Fallbrook had 0.34 inches, Oceanside Airport reported 0.23 inches and 0.15 inches at the harbor.
Rain was forecast to continue through the first part of the week with a bigger storm expected Tuesday night, Maxwell said.
"We might actually get quite a bit of rain," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was at one inch on the coast and three inches in the mountains."
Contact staff writer Yvette Urrea at (760) 901-4076 or yurrea@nctimes.com. Staff writer Quinn Eastman and North County Times news servicecs contributed to this report.
