it's raining in California!

Golf ball-sized hail was reported around parts of Palmdale, where rain fell at the rate of six inches per hour and winds gusted up to 60 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

You're royally screwed if you get stuck on 5 near Fort Tejon.

The north side has all the gas stations, restaurants, etc. when you come down into the valley.

When I lived in So Cal back in the 70s there were a few flash floods up there and we had to use US1 to get from LA to the valley or go over Tehachapi and down through San Berdo... what a mess.

Hope they can get out of there. At least, as I saw last November when passing through, there's that outlet mall on the north side of the pass that seems to be set up as a refuge for travelers stranded at the bottom, it's hugh with a food court that could seat hundreds if not a thousand or so. But if you're up on the pass, not too many places to go.

Nearly 200 vehicles, including 75 tractor-trailers, are trapped on California 58 east of Tehachapi in up to 20 feet of mud and debris after torrential rains pummeled the area and forced drivers to flee.

Interstate 5 through the Grapevine also remained closed due to mudslides.

Multiple mudslides hammered the highway just east of Sand Canyon between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. as commuters traveled on Tehachapi Pass, a rural two-lane crossing in the Tehachapi Mountains in Kern County, said Ray Pruitt, spokesman of the Kern County Sheriff’s Department. Authorities said 115 vehicles and 75 tractors-trailers were swallowed by several feet of mud.

“I have never seen slides like this,” Pruitt said.

Trapped in the mud as high as 20 feet, drivers were forced to abandoned their vehicles or had to be rescued as mud swept over the highway. The drivers were moved to three shelters in Mojave and Tehachapi.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-5-freeway-remains-closed-more-thunderstorms-expected-20151016-story.html

we are in for a crazy Winter here. I'm doing a lot of prep work on my 100 yr old apt. bldg just in case.