Update: 10 News reports cars underwater in Ramona.

Update: Heartland Fire also reports flooding in La Mesa on Avocado between 70th St. and Guava.

The City of La Mesa has cancelled its Sundays at Six concert tonight due to flooding around Harry Griffen Park.

July 19, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – The CHP incidents page reports numerous roadway hazards related to the stormy weather, including some rockin' and rollin' mud, rocks and flooding. Here are the latest details:

• State Route 79 at Chihuahua Valley: Sig Alert issued, roadway shut down
• I-8 east, old Sunrise Highway: large rocks down in lanes
• Highway 79 at Horizon View Drive: Rock slides blocking lanes
• State Route 78 at Wynola:  Mud and rockslide blocking one side of highway
• Old Julian Highway just west of Camel Dairy: road blocked both ways by rocks
• I-15 south connection to Highway 52: rider down in lane
• Ramona View Dr. in El Cajon: roadway completely washed out
  

A Fighting Chance, by Elizabeth Warren (Picador, 2015, New York, NY, 377 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

July 19, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - Elizabeth Warren, the senior senator from Massachusetts, a former Harvard Law School professor and an expert on economic issues, as well as the author of nine books, including All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan and The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents Are Going Broke, has written an insightful book that should resonate with us all; A Fighting Chance.

July 19, 2015 (Borrego Springs) – October 23-25, the Borrego Days Desert Festival will be celebrating its 50^th anniversary.  Organizers are seeking vintage images from the early days of the event for use in marketing materials and posters.

Donate a van or repairs and East County Magazine will give your business a free ad on our site

East County News Service

July 19, 2015 (Rancho San Diego)—Last week we told you about a foster care family in need here in East County.  (See our story). Debra Zeldin’s van was stolen and crashed by the thieves, and her insurance won’t cover the repairs.  She’s helped over 60 foster kids including Russell, a 6-year-old who had a kidney transplant recently but “is still wheelchair bound with a tracheotomy. He is blind and developmentally delayed.  See this Voices of Children video about his inspiring story:  https://vimeo.com/76706300 .

Despite fundraising efforts the Zeldin family is still far short of what’s needed to repair or replace their damaged van. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Robert Gehr (c) 2015

July 19, 2015 (San Diego) – Saturday’s deluge, remnants of a hurricane off the Baja coast, set a new record rainfall for the month of July in San Diego and many other local cities, Alex Tardy, Meteorologist Manager at the National Weather Service, San Diego reports.  At Lindbergh Field airport, 1.03 inches of rain has fallen so far this month, topping the old record of 0.92 inches set back in July 1902.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park got 1.16 inches and Ramona’s airport got a full inch. Campo received .99, while Alpine and El Cajon measured .95 inches on Saturday, putting all of these communities above normal for the whole month of July.

The downpour forced cancellation of some events, such as Concert at the Lakes in Santee.

July 19, 2015 (La Mesa) -- Kristin Kjaero shot this sequence of photos during the mid day storms on Saturday, July 18, 2015.

The photos show Mt. Helix disappearing in the clouds, then reappearing in the sunshine.

July 18, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - The San Diego County Library continues its series of programs at the Alpine Library on Thursday, July 23^rd with a program titled “Author Talk – Mastering Success.” Join Dr. Dorothy Kegler as she discusses her journey to becoming a local author. Dorothy is a longtime resident of San Diego. She has been featured in two books and authored her journal, My Journey: Butterfly Wings, based on her journey to get an education. See attached.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Talia Sclafania, via Twitter

July 18,2015 (San Bernadino County) – A fast-moving brush fire roared out of control yesterday in the Cajon Pass in San Bernadino County, trapping vehicles on the I-15 freeway along the main route from San Diego County to Vegas.  The blaze destroyed two semi-trucks and 18 other vehicles, damaging 10 more.  TV footage showed people fleeing along the side of the freeway and some vehicles turning backwards in what some have dubbed "Carmageddon."

At least two people suffered minor burns. A photo Tweeted by soccer player Talia Slafania, forced to abandon her vehicle, captured the terrifying panorama.

July 18, 2014 (La Mesa) -- There are numerous power outages right now around the county, including San Carlos, El Cajon City Heights and Poway.

Information about service interruptions and estimates when power will be restored can be found on

SDGE's Outage Map.

East County News Service

July 18, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for the mountains and deserts through Sunday evening. Heavy rain is now falling across much of East County, with thunder and lightning reporting in La Mesa, El Cajon, mountain areas and other locations.

Moisture from Hurricane Dolores will continue to spread northward into Southern California today and Sunday, bringing thunderstorms and locally  heavy rainfall.

By Robert Gehr

July 18, 2015 (El Cajon)--Saturday morning July 18^th began with an early morning wake up call by Mother Nature herself . The sound of lightning - THUNDER!

East County News Service

July 17, 2015 (Sacramento)—Advocates of a ballot measure that would legalize recreational marijuana use in California announced Thursday that they have amassed an e-mail list of 70,000 supporters for the campaign.

San Diego family prepares for 10^th annual “Grand Stand” to raise funds for childhood cancer research, family adds new stand location in 2015

July 17, 2015 (San Diego's East County) - Continuing their quest to end pediatric cancer, the Miller family of San Diego will host their 10^th annual Alex’s Lemonade Stand on Saturday, July 25, 2015 from 10am-6pm. In addition to their home lemonade stand located at 3366 Adams Avenue in Normal Heights, the Miller family had added a second satellite location to their efforts this year in front of Thorn Street Brewery (3176 Thorn Street) in North Park. These “Miller Tribe and Crew San Diego Grand Stands”—led by team captain Amy Miller—will raise funds and awareness for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF), a nonprofit that works toward better treatments and ultimately cures for all kids with cancer.

"Meet us at The Lookout" and meet the artists

Kristin Kjaero

July 17, 2015 (La Mesa) -- La Mesa is marking the groundbreaking for it centennial legacy project with a public ceremony on July 23 at 9:00 a.m. 

Come meet and greet La Mesa residents and design competition winners Jess, Mary Lynn and Amy Dominguez, who will be on hand for the ceremony.

Update: Hear a podcast of our radio story on this (originally aired on KNSJ) with audio clips from the Pine Valley Mutual Water Co. Shareholders meeting here:

http://k003.kiwi6.com/hotlink/snd5v902dn/PineValleyShareholdersStory.mp3

By Miriam Raftery

Photos by Bob Ames Smith: Pine Valley Creek, several years ago and now, after 4 years of drought

July 15, 2015 (Pine Valley) –With water running short across the state, tensions are building where local water districts are being asked to share precious water supplies with neighboring districts and developers.

Directors of the Pine Valley Mutual Water Company found themselves in hot water with shareholders, who staged a revolt over their board’s decision to sell up to 5 million gallons of water to the newly formed Rough Acres Water Company in Boulevard.  Rough Acres Ranch wants to build an industrial scale solar facility on its property that needs massive amounts of water—and Boulevard doesn’t have enough.  

But when Pine Valley shareholders—the residents who rely on water from Pine Valley wells – found out about the secret sale, tempers at the latest shareholder meeting reached the boiling point, as a tape provided to East County Magazine by Charlene Ayers, leader of the Ranter’s Roost online discussion group on land use issues locally, makes clear.