By Mary O’KEEFE

I start this column with sharing CVW’s thoughts and prayers for all of those affected by the catastrophic flooding in Nepal and the Grand Canyon, which occurred days apart. 

By now most of us have seen video of a sudden dark wall of water raging behind buildings at Gyirong on the Chinese side of the border of Nepal-Tibet on Aug. 23, according to reporting from BBC.

The wall of water just swept away large buildings and everything else in its path. 

According to reports, scientists are still working on exactly what caused this disaster but according to a timeline by CNN, at around 8:37 a.m., local time, the earth started shaking along the Nepal/China border. U.S. Geological Survey first reported it as an earthquake, then later stated the shaking was caused by a powerful glacier collapse and debris flow – equivalent to a 5.2 magnitude earthquake. 

According to nature.com, satellite images showed warning signs prior to the great flooding in Nepal. 

“Images revealed the accelerated movement of a glacier–rock mass just days before it collapsed, triggering a deadly flash flood,” according to nature.com. “Manoochehr Shirzaei, a geophysicist at Virginia Tech in Blackburg, says that satellite images from just days before the disaster suggest that a section of the glacier and the rocks it sat on top of were accelerating in the weeks before the collapse, a concerning sign of an unstable system. The precise sequence of events remains unclear. The disaster might have begun with a massive rockslide that dragged part of the glacier downhill, or the glacier might have failed first causing rocks to destabilize into a landslide.”

But this type of catastrophe is difficult to predict without new systems dedicated to forecast glacier and rock collapses. 

As of press time, there are over 1,000 people confirmed dead and about 4,000 still missing. Rescue and recovery efforts continue but it is very difficult. 

Then on Saturday a massive flash flood raced along Grand Canyon National Park at Bright Angel Creek. Bright Angel Creek flows into the Colorado River on the north side of the inner gorge, near Phantom Ranch and Bright Angel Campground.According to NBC news, the park service had warned there was an elevated risk of flooding due to a devastating 2025 wildfire. 

The flash flood began with torrential rains in the area, which prompted the flash flood.

According to the National Parks Service, the bodies of two hikers have been recovered who were caught in the flash flood. A third hiker is still missing.

According to reports 80 people were rescued. 

The power of Mother Nature is something those who know CV history are well aware of – from fire to flood, we have seen it all. Even though it has been nearly 93 years since the great Crescenta Valley flood the memories are still very much alive. 

For us now, all eyes are on the sea as Marie, just off the coast of Baja, is expected to be upgraded to a hurricane by the end of yesterday, after press time. A tropical storm is upgraded to a hurricane when it reaches sustained wind speeds of 74 miles per hour. 

Marie was the storm that was forming behind hurricane Karina. A watchful weather eye is on hurricanes Karina and Lowell. Neither will come toward Southern California, however Marie has a potential to affect our Southern California beaches even if she does not make landfall. 

According to NOAA in Oxnard, as of 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning Marie was still classified as a tropical storm; however, it was expected to intensify and upgraded to a hurricane later that day. 

What that means for Southern Californians is possible rain, although a NOAA spokesperson said it would probably only bring 1/10 to 1/2 inch of rain … however, it could be more. 

What it will definitely bring are swells at the beach. 

“Large southeast southernly swells bringing high waves,” said the NOAA spokesperson, “and it could bring dangerous rip currents.”

Depending on how close Marie gets to the coast there may be surf advisories issued; these are issued when surf is over eight feet. 

Hurricanes are fed by warm water; our normally cool Pacific temperatures are currently pretty warm. Water temperatures in LA and Ventura counties are in the mid to high 70s and Orange County has listed temperatures as high as 80 degrees for coastal waters. It has been warming for quite a few months now; our predicted El Niño can make claim for some of the warming. 

The bottom line is that hurricanes feed off warm water and weaken with cooler water. It is expected that Marie will follow the warmer water in the Pacific but move away from the California coast, however not before it brings us some rain and humidity. 

Temperatures for Labor Day will be much more comfortable than last weekend. We should see temperatures in the high 70s/low 80s through next Thursday. Rain is expected on Sunday and Monday.