The weather said we expected Thunder and lightning and rain today and I saw a lot of rain coming down mostly on the Mountain (Mt. Shasta) from Mt. Shasta City where I'm staying at the base of the mountain next to Interstate 5.
So, the clouds surrounding the mountain and the rain on the mountain were expected.
But, what wasn't expected was the lightning and the deluge while we were having dinner at Lalo's which is a Mexican restaurant that I helped build in the 1970s when I was in my 20s. Then it was called "Springs Kitchen" when it was first built after "Stewart Springs which is over past Weed, California past there on the left if you are heading north on Interstate 5.
But, I noticed there was a loud noise which I thought at first was coming from the kitchen but then as we wondered what it was someone at our table said, "Do you hear the rain I cannot believe it is so loud!"
Then a lady came into the restaurant that was drenched to the bone and seemed sort of in shock from the whole thing. Then I looked outside and saw flashes of lightning and 4 inch thick and wide streams coming off the roof in various places and 6 inches of water in the parking lot of the Restaurant. Later, Lalo, who owns the restaurant seemed sort of disturbed as we spoke with him because the rain was destroying the plants in the planters all around the restaurant and causing damage. We had to wait about 15 to 20 minutes before it was even safe to go outside. We saw people nearby hiding wherever they could from the rain and people in an apartment nearby looking out the front door in amazement at rain like no one had ever seen before in Mt. Shasta in my lifetime.
The closest to this that I have seen before is the kind of rain you sometimes get in Hawaii on the various islands where you can step outside for 5 seconds and the drops are so big you are completely drenched in 5 seconds time.
It was monsoon style rains where the roads become rivers. As I finally was brave enough to run to my 4 wheel drive truck through 6 inch deep water in the parking lot I had to be careful from all the gravel pieces washed off the roof into the walkway from turning my ankle. I made it to the truck okay and my jacket luckily had a hood on it which kept me mostly dry and then I hung my jacket to dry in my hotel room on the bathroom hook after shaking as much water as I could from it. I was amazed the lightning was still crashing and the rain was still coming down for several hours after that but nothing prepared me for the rivers coming down any roads on a slope as I drove through town back to my hotel room.
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