Major funding for Kpbs Evening Edition has been made possible in part by Bill House family of companies providing San Diego with plumbing, heating, air restoration and flood services for over 40 years.

Call one 800 Bill House or visit Bill house.com.

And buy the Conrad Prevost Foundation.

Darlene Marcos shyly.

And by the following.

And by viewers like you.

Thank you.

It was a wet New Year's Day that brought widespread flooding in the region.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm John Carroll in for Maya.

The National Weather Service says more than two inches of rain fell around most of the county.

That caused flooding in the usual areas around town.

Kpbs reporter Alexandra Nguyen caught up with residents and business owners who are cleaning up the mud and debris.

The scene in Bankers Hills today is vastly different than what it was yesterday, when this was the scene at the corner of Arroyo Drive and Rainier Way.

This was very surprising to me.

Steven Alberts owns the Blue Barn Create a video and photography studio.

He's never seen flooding like this in the 15 years he's lived here.

In the past, the water would always kind of just come to just before the door at the worst flooding of the season, or the worst rainfall of the season.

But yesterday, you can see there's a line that's about three feet up the building.

The water just went way past where it ever has gone.

His studio is covered in mud and some of his photography equipment is ruined.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, no.

And it was up to my ankles within a couple minutes.

His neighbor, William Johnson, lives in the building behind the business.

His entire apartment was flooded.

He was in the process of moving out.

It was coming through the walls over here.

And I, I went I was going to go run as my neighbor.

How she's doing.

I come to the door and it's not ready.

It's just coming in like a like a wave.

Neighbors say the source of the flooding started from right here.

The water came down Mabel Canyon and picked up this gravel and plugged up the storm drains.

It jumped to this curb here.

Went straight back.

You can see the mud going straight back.

The two puddles.

Beverly Glen says the mudflow went through this backyard before ending up here at the storm drain in front of Albert's business.

She says this area is prone to flooding.

I was surprised by the mud.

And because we've never seen this much mud down here at all.

The city has been restoring Mabel Canyon and replacing the storm drains.

Glen says it's helped.

I don't think they could have predicted that.

We reached out to the city but have not received a response by deadline.

Meanwhile, the cleanup continues and another storm is heading this way.

Alexandra Wynne, Kpbs news.

Meanwhile, near Joyous Creek, residents were worried when the creek overflowed its banks during yesterday's storm.

Debris plugged storm drains and neighbors there helped to clear them, allowing the water to drain.

Harvey Aguayo says had the rain continued, it would have been a repeat of January 2024.

We're afraid we got last year because the dark water run over the that the channel started to spread, right there.

It's probably because they didn't do anything that was.

Aguayo says the city hasn't done enough to clear the creek to prevent flooding.

The area, if you'll remember, was devastated by a once in a thousand year flood nearly two years ago.

Even now, many residents are still in the process of rebuilding.

Right now, the Arizona Wildcats are facing off against Southern Methodist University in the 46th annual Holiday Bowl.

But the game time festivities began earlier with the Holiday Bowl parade this morning.

It started at ten today on Harbor Drive.

Thankfully, the rain cleared up just in time.

It's the largest balloon parade in the country in terms of volume.

Now, the game started just minutes ago.

It's the second year the Holiday Bowl is being played at Snapdragon Stadium, but they're both very good teams, equally matched, so we're expecting a great game.

Holiday Bowl has a reputation for very high scoring games.

The Holiday Bowl series between the Wildcats and Mustangs is tied up at one apiece.

The game will be immediately followed by the well known KGB Sky show.

We've had a few showers and sprinkles around in some parts of Southern California.

The bulk of the action tonight is going to be up to our north, with some, slightly more robust rain showers up in areas around Oceanside, 56 degrees there, 60 in San Diego, cloudy skies for us, and we'll be down to 38 in Mount Laguna.

Our next storm system is going to begin to eke its way back into the Golden State.

Here through Saturday.

Will see some spotty showers late Saturday.

Most of the action initially to the north.

Details ahead.

San Diego is preparing to enforce new wild fire safety regulations for defensible space around homes.

Kpbs Metro reporter Andrew Bowen says they'll apply in most of the city.

San Diego's canyons can be both beautiful and hazardous.

They provide greenery and habitat for wildlife in the city's most urban neighborhoods.

But canyons can also fuel wildfires.

Dry weather and gusty winds can sweep embers into the air and ignite homes that are blocks even miles away from a fire's front line.

Tony Tasca is a deputy fire chief and San Diego's fire marshal.

You can have an ember cast a singular ember, and you have, ember load, which is multiple embers.

Just raining down on a structure.

And one of those, if that gets into the structure, increases the likelihood that's going to transmit, fire to that structure.

Tasca says embers are especially dangerous.

And what's called zone zero, a five foot buffer zone surrounding a home or structure.

New rules will soon ban that combustible materials within zone zero.

That means wood fences, sheds, landscaping, even wood based mulch will have to be at least five feet away from a building's outer walls.

Tosca says the zone zero requirements will apply to new construction next month, and to existing homes and structures starting in February 2027, and they'll only apply in San Diego's fire hazard zones, which cover roughly two thirds of the city.

They include suburban style neighborhoods like Scripps Ranch and Carmel Valley, and parts of dense urban neighborhoods like Bunkers Hill and Hillcrest.

If we are facing a large firestorm like we saw with the Cedar Fire, the Witch Fire, we just know that our our resources are going to be spread thin right when we get a fire of that scale and magnitude.

So the idea behind this is to try to make homes survivable on their own.

We know we can protect homes if it's 1 or 2 structures threatened, but when we get thousands of homes, you know, we need a lot of those homes to be able to survive, without, you know, the firefighters being able to protect each individual one.

Tosca says the city doesn't have the capacity to aggressively enforce the new regulations, and that insurance companies may require compliance before the government does.

Andrew Bohn, Kpbs news.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Roman Catholic church in Logan Heights, has a history of immigrant activism.

A few years ago, it opened a temporary migrant shelter for asylum seekers.

Now, Kpbs reporter Gustavo Solis says the church is opening an immigrant resource center to help people targeted by mass deportations have a hub.

Once the paint dries, the electrical wiring is redone and all the rooms are cleaned.

This former convent for Catholic nuns will become an immigrant resource center.

Overseeing this transformation is Father Hung.

When Danica says.

I don't know if you're not the associate pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Logan Heights.

And helping him is a crew of volunteers.

People love this community, and people love to be of service to the world.

If they want to leave this place, a better place, right?

And so everyone you see coming in here are all volunteers.

And, them so many of them are members of our parish communities.

Father Winn took Kpbs on a tour.

Another consultation space right now.

Right now, the only console you get is tools.

And what they do of what will eventually be the Pope Francis Center, a space where people impacted by President Trump's mass deportation campaign can get some help.

Wynn showed us consulting offices where people can meet immigration lawyers.

A daycare space for children whose parents have been deported, and large areas that can be used for community gatherings.

And if you walk over here, this will be the main presentation room.

So the idea is we get so many people coming in and, we'll do a group presentation, know your rights, and, you know, the legal landscape and what these are people we want to do the presentation here before they meet individually with, private consultation.

Several organizations will provide legal aid services to the Pope Francis Center.

They include Alliance San Diego, Casa Cornelia Law Center, and the American Bar Association's Immigrant Justice Project.

What we want to do here is create a space of hope and a space of welcome.

We might not be able to solve all the problems.

In fact, we certainly cannot.

And we aren't able to.

Sorry about that.

Had some audio issues there.

San Diego State University is building a pioneering lab to research top water issues like flooding and pollution.

Kpbs environment reporter Tammy Murga says the facility will be in an unexpected place.

This site of San Diego State University's new lab is tucked away just under a trolley overpass and steps away from the new Sdsu mission Valley River Park.

Natalie Miller, on off, is an environmental engineering professor at Sdsu.

She says the site is away from the campus, but its surroundings make for a great learning environment.

I saw that all these really cool features were going in to Mission Valley in the River Park, like a bio filtration, basins, and you know that we have the San Diego River right there, Murphy Canyon Creek right there.

The lab will consist of a 480 square foot building and an outdoor space for fieldwork.

Mladenov says students and researchers have long studied flooding, water quality after fires and water reuse, but their work has been limited at the lab scale and bench scale.

But to be able to bring this to reality and take some of our ideas to fruition, and even some inventions that we're working on.

Mladenov says students and researchers need to be working with real wastewater.

We need to be looking at real water systems and the River Park has those systems in place.

The lab will be completed later this year.

It's funded by a $2.6 million grant from the San Diego River Conservancy.

Tammy Murga, Kpbs news.

Have you made a New Year's resolution yet?

How does putting more money in your pocket sound?

Jen Sullivan has tips on growing your finances.

It's a hangover that can't be cured in a day.

Holiday debt.

And it's a financial headache hanging over millions of Americans after the holidays.

A recent survey from LendingTree found 37% of respondents racked up holiday debt, averaging around $1,200.

Among the priorities Americans should have for the new year pay down highest cost debt.

Mark Hamrick, with personal finance site Bankrate, says paying off debt is the first thing people should do to reset their finances in 2026.

Next, he says, take a hard look at your monthly spending.

My personal preference would be that somebody probably doesn't allocate more than a third of their monthly income to those kinds of housing related expenses.

Hamrick says rising energy costs have made utilities more expensive, so housing costs may eat up more of your budget.

The reality for homeowners is that this is a very volatile price environment.

Hamrick says your household should have an emergency fund of at least $1,000.

And here's how you can grow your money in the future, Hamrick says.

To put more money into a high yield savings account, which can have an annual return of about 4%.

So let's crunch some numbers in this bank rate calculator.

If you put $5,000 into an essay with a 4% annual return, and you contribute $100 a month, in ten years, you'll have made more than $5,000 just in interest.

Growing your account to more than $22,000.

Also, look into certificates of deposit new CDs.

Those accounts also offer a fixed interest rate.

For consumer watch, I'm Jen Sullivan with the New Year.

Experts say it's also important for everyone to renew their focus on mental health.

Mandy Gaither talks to a psychiatrist about how to make it a priority in 2026.

When you're sick, you take care of your body.

But what about your mind?

We live in very perilous times, with lots of stressors around us.

Psychiatrist doctor Selma Tena, Vic with El Camino Health, says mental health is just as important as physical health, and not to think of them as separate entities.

Instead, to think of both as one.

Taking care of your body, of your physical body can also help taking care of your mind.

Tena Vic says that means eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, getting enough good quality sleep all can help overall health.

People who have been exposed to chronic stress not only can develop mental health conditions, but they can also develop different, physical conditions such as high high blood pressure, heart conditions, and other metabolic abnormalities.

Other ways to prioritize mental health in 2026 stay socially connected, Tanna Vic says.

We're social beings and need others and engage in healthy hobbies.

She says it helps our brains process stress, especially ones with repetitive movements like knitting.

And in a busy world, listen to your body and set your own pace.

It's okay to stop and it's okay to make a break.

And it's okay to go slowly at times when it's needed.

Finally, Tanna Vic says to recognize when you need mental health help and see a doctor.

What is important to know is that there is no shame for Health Minute.

I'm Mandy Gaither.

It's also important to remember that you can receive help 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

It's available through a call, text or chat to the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

The number you see it there 988.

For birders, a big year is when you set out to see as many distinct bird species as possible within a single year.

It's part competition, part obsession, and winning the race in San Diego County is a Herculean undertaking.

Kpbs producer Anthony Wallace met up with three of 2025 top local birders for a birder.

There might be no better place in the United States than San Diego County.

This is the big leagues of birding.

San Diego is arguably the nerdiest county in the country at the leading birder.

Every year is from San Diego County at the top of the big year standings this year are three heavy hitters.

There's Rick Grove, a semi-retired former superintendent.

When we met up in mid-December, he had 390 birds, but with 390, that puts me in third place currently.

Grove was my guide on my first ever birding trip at the San Diego Bird Festival, an experience we documented on the finest podcast.

He was such a master at identifying birds.

I couldn't imagine anyone beating him this year, but David Trimble was just one bird behind him and neither one of them were particularly close to first place.

I'm probably 1015 birds behind the leader here.

The leader, who you might call the Tony Gwynn of Birding in San Diego is Paul Leeman.

I have currently the highest total for this year.

Lehman's academic background is in geography, but his life has been all about birds.

I did the range maps for many of the field guides that people use of showing where the birds are found all through North America and down through Middle America.

So birding was a passion, a hobby, a life, but also it was a profession.

Paul is a guy who finds half the birds, the rest maybe more than half the birds.

The rest of us chase.

All these top birders go out nearly every morning, usually before sunrise, and they're constantly on call, like firefighters ready to spring into action when word of a rare bird comes in.

And this morning was a good example of that.

Paul put out the word about a thick build, long spur out at Brown Field.

Out or no tie.

I was already already on the road heading down this way when I got the word.

I turned, you know, turned around and went that way.

They charter boats to explore the ocean, drive to remote corners of the county and climb mountains.

All to spot rare birds.

There's no prize for winning.

Just the memories, the bragging rights, and the satisfaction of finding something truly elusive.

It's a competition, but it's a competition with yourself more than really anybody else.

This community is amazing in that everybody helps everybody, and everybody wants everyone to see every bird.

And in February, everyone came together for one spectacular bird.

The undisputed highlight of this year in birding, called the Lesser Frigate Bird, which is from the South Pacific, south of the equator, tropical Pacific.

And it's only the fourth or fifth time it's ever been seen anywhere in North America.

That lesser frigate bird was thousands of miles from its natural habitat.

One of the most exciting phenomena in birding is a scientific mystery of vagrants, birds that migrate to the wrong place.

We don't really know why the birds show up here.

We don't know if their compasses is off or their GPS is faulty.

Or if they are, you know, a young bird that's just out trying to expand territory, trying to find a new place.

Who knows?

Right.

We don't know if these are like, the the pioneers of that species that decided to go west.

Fascinating.

Birds surround us almost anywhere you go in San Diego.

And of course, Crystal Grove and Lehman cannot help but sneak in some birding during our interview.

We were at Rob Field in Ocean Beach, and they pointed out a Willet, which calls its name in flight, and a black bellied plover, which flies all the way from here to the Arctic Circle.

Since the pandemic, birding has become much more popular and more diverse.

You don't need to be an elite birder at the top of the standings to marvel at our feathered neighbors.

For me, last year's San Diego Bird Festival was slightly life changing.

It deepened my appreciation for the mind blowing nature in our own backyard.

That festival is coming up again in February, and you'll have the chance to bird with champions like Grover Krystle.

But all you really need to get started is a walk outside, and the free birding app Merlin helps to just look at birds.

It doesn't take any equipment.

It doesn't take a mentor.

The three of us are.

We look like what you might consider birders to look like.

We're we're old, retired white men.

And I think it's really important to point out that birding is for everybody.

Anthony Wallace, Kpbs news.

Hear more from Rick Grove on The Finest.

You can find it by scanning the QR code on your screen.

From there, search the podcast for 100 birds in one day.

We hope that your new year is off to a great start.

Now that all the statistics are in a quick look back at 2025, it was actually a cooler than average year here in San Diego.

2025 high temperatures were about to 4/10 of a degree below the historical long term average.

Low temperatures almost a full degree below average in San Diego for 2025.

So again, avoiding heat, has been generally one of the big themes here with our temperatures in 2025.

San Diego River crested.

It was flooding back on New Year's afternoon, a minor flood there at Fashion Valley.

It has been receding, coming back down within its banks, which is good news.

So showers will be returning this weekend with a more robust area of rain next week.

Look at the reservoir levels.

This is good news.

We have been benefiting from some recent wet years in the winter season.

The wet season has been good to us here in all the primary reservoirs.

Every single one of the big ones in California, above average storage compared to where it should be this time of the year.

That's great news.

60 degrees tonight, partly to mostly cloudy for us.

Showers to the north.

A new storm system begins to roll in.

And, we're going to add to the surplus in Los Angeles.

And we'll see some scattered showers into San Diego, especially late Saturday.

So a lot of the action during the day is going to be to our north, but we're going to begin to see a band of showers push in.

So overall, we will see some showers.

It'll be very cloudy out there.

The area that's a little bit less likely to see any rain on Saturday will be Borrego Springs, 66 and cloudy there, but 45 with showers of rain in Mount Laguna, 68 in San Diego and El Cajon.

Rain showers increasing in the late part of the day.

By the way, this weekend, again, some of the surfers are out there any season of the year.

There are some beach hazard statements, big waves, rough surf, some dangers out there through Sunday morning.

But overall, this whole stretch, Saturday through Tuesday will be a stormy time in California, a blizzard for some of the Sierra Nevada, feet of snow up there in the passes.

If you're traveling that way.

Windy for the coast.

Heaviest rain still to our north.

That's been the theme lately, but we'll begin to see some showers.

Here we are Saturday morning, moving into the afternoon.

Better chance for showers Saturday evening and night, then into Sunday off and on.

Showers.

But the most widespread of the action this weekend will be to our north.

By Sunday afternoon and evening, though, look for an increase into Orange County and parts of San Diego as well.

So Sunday still kind of soggy, especially wet to the north.

Just intermittent rain showers for us.

The pattern continues on Monday with some more showers, and if we look at the rainfall amounts through Monday evening, we expect to see a 1 to 2 inch rain event here in San Diego, probably around an inch, a little less than that to the east.

That's through Monday evening.

Much of this will come Sunday evening into Monday for us, so we're wet out there, shower Saturday, Sunday and Monday, maybe even a shower or two on Tuesday.

For the coastal areas into inland areas.

Showers off and on through the weekend and Monday.

Still a lingering shower or two on Tuesday.

Temperatures held down by this.

We're wet with off and on rain and showers in the mountains, just mild enough that most of this will come down in liquid form.

Still cloudy Tuesday and the deserts.

Your best chance for showers here in these more rain resistant areas.

East will be around Sunday with some showers and highs around 70.

I'm AccuWeather meteorologist Jeff Cornish for Kpbs news.

Kpbs Cinema Junkie Beth Accomando suggests ringing in the New Year with something bold and beautiful at San Diego's last arthouse cinema.

She recommends the Chinese film resurrection, opening today at Digital Jim Cinema.

If you're looking for a film that explains everything and is served up like fast food, leave now.

Because Chinese filmmaker Be Gone is not for you.

He makes films for people who are in love with cinema, films that you must surrender to while drinking in their intoxicating imagery.

And there's no better terrain for him to explore than dreams from a year ago.

And Angela.

Now learned your job there.

It's a long time waiting.

Super moon, phase one shooting the on 22 Queensland.

You need to pay Dane to hand paid Dane to Donald who scene to witness in the fossil.

Dane showing a muscle tissue to muscle size or treats only contemptuous of Sanllehi to treat me.

I'd actually cheat on to that own dog.

I shouted Gwangju and it does in his latest film resurrection.

People have stopped dreaming to obtain immortality, but a creature referred to as the delirium continues to dream.

Warping the fabric of time, we experience five dreams, each defined by a different sense and cinematic style, beginning with a silent film sequence done without dialog.

B has the delirium to hide within the medium of film making.

Resurrection, a gorgeous homage to the power of cinema, means you can do what you have.

You made up.

Up resurrection asks questions that it has no intention of answering and has no conventional plot.

Instead, it explores what makes us human and ponders of humanity can survive without dreams or imagination.

Resurrection is cinema at its most breathtaking looking both like a mondo Kpbs news.

You can find tonight's stories on our web site, kpbs.org.

Thank you so much for joining us, everyone.

I'm John Carroll.

Have an excellent evening and a wonderful first weekend of 2026.

Major funding for Kpbs Evening Edition has been made possible in part by Bill Howe, family of companies providing San Diego with plumbing, heating, air restoration and flood services for over 40 years.

Call one 800 Bill Howe or visit Bill howe.com.

And by the Conrad Prevost Foundation.

Darlene Marcos, Chile and by the following.

And by viewers like you.

Thank you.