Break in wet weather ends as storms return

SAN DIEGO — Following in the steps of Monday’s downpour, another storm hit San Diego County about noon Tuesday, leading to accidents on rain-slick roads, causing power outages and downing trees. One woman was killed in Flinn Springs when a tree crushed her mobile home. Authorities were notified of the downed tree, about 10 feet in diameter, about 3 p.m. at the mobile-home park on Olde Highway 80 near Flinn Springs Road. Emergency crews needed a crane to move the tree in order to extricate the woman. They confirmed about 4:45 p.m. that she had died, the Sheriff’s Department said. The storm prompted the National Weather Service to issue a tornado warning for San Diego, East County and the South Bay that expired at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday. A similar warning was issued earlier Tuesday for North County; it expired at 2:30 p.m. The severe weather tore the roof off a mobile home at Cameron’s Mobile Estates near Magnolia Avenue in Santee about 2 p.m., the Sheriff’s Department said. Some people reported seeing a funnel cloud in the area at that time. Preliminary data from the National Weather Service indicated a strong thunderstorm cell moved though the area, but it likely did not produce a funnel cloud. Authorities received numerous calls of fallen trees as wind associated with the storm picked up Tuesday afternoon. In San Diego, trees fell into houses in Scripps Ranch, Normal Heights and North Park, but there were no injuries reported, said Maurice Luque, spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. In the Scripps Ranch incident, a tree fell on a house on Caminito Memosac near Aviary Drive, causing about $100,000 damage to the structure and $5,000 to the contents, Luque said. The tree crashed through the roof and into a bedroom, but no was inside at the time. San Diego Gas & Electric Co. reported that at one time Tuesday, about 55,000 customers in San Diego County were without power due to a variety of reasons, including wind-related problems with power lines and rain seeping into the underground system. Read the entire Union Tribune article here.