I see Dave and I had a similar idea for a post although his post is more serious. I think my before and after photos only stress the importance of how quickly things can change.

During my daily – OK, almost daily – walk along the San Creek Juan Trail, last Tuesday the 12th, I took this photo of the flood control channel in anticipation of the rain that all of the local meteorologist were predicting.

The following is a photo I took yesterday afternoon, January 21, from roughly the same location. As you can see it’s quite a dramatic change.

More after the jump.

The sun actually peeked out for a bit. I think everyone was anxious to get out. I saw several people on the trail and at a nearby park. The trail ends/begins at Doheny State Beach, but I was sure I wouldn’t be able to access the beach as the trail passes under PCH and is quite low. Surprisingly it was not flooded, as you can see in the photo below. I took it with my cell phone, so the quality is not as good and unfortunately, it doesn’t get bigger with a click, but you get the idea.

When I got to the beach I was expecting big waves and some beach erosion, but I was surprised by how much the beach had eroded. It was really, really windy and the surf was big and unpredictable, so I didn’t stay long. I took all of the beach photos from the driveway of the Beach Patrol/Lifeguard building.

This is where San Juan Creek empties into the ocean. Normally it's a trickle and you can walk across the sand here.

Violent surf. You can see the waves breaking over the jetty in the distance.

Thank goodness for the zoom lens. A wave breaking over the jetty at Dana Point Harbor. I think it kind of looks like a cloud.

Debris caught on the small rock jetty in front of the Beach Patrol. As you can see the rocks are totally submerged.