0.78 inches in one go causes widespread flooding there? Crazy.
More than that. From the article, that’s just what they normally get in November.
the area — which receives an average of 0.78 inches in November
There will be two rounds of wet weather, with the first round expected to bring 1 to 3 inches of rain on Friday night.
The second round of rain is expected Saturday and will be more significant, potentially bringing heavy rainfall, gusty winds, small hail and isolated tornadoes.
A widespread 2 to 6 inches of rain, with higher amounts possible in some areas, is expected through Saturday across much of Southern California.
So imagine a little more than tripling the numbers there to get a feel for what might be comparable in terms of percentage of rain they’d normally get. For Baltimore, it’d be like maybe 6 inches to 18 inches in under two days.
More than that. From the article, that’s just what they normally get in November.
For perspective, average annual precipitation:
https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/US/average-annual-precipitation-by-city.php
So imagine a little more than tripling the numbers there to get a feel for what might be comparable in terms of percentage of rain they’d normally get. For Baltimore, it’d be like maybe 6 inches to 18 inches in under two days.
I mean, I just looked up their current month.
For comparison, the 2018 Ellicott City flood (the 2nd hundred year flood in 2 years) in a city just south of Baltimore was over 9 inches of rain.
Which is roughly two months of rain in a single day.
LA is a much worse city wrt drainage than Ellicott city and its surrounding “suburbs” make it.