El Niño of 1997-98

Mudslides after heavy rain destroyed property in Laguna Canyon in 1998.

Marilyn Lane tries to shut a door as a wave rushes into her Solimar Beach home during a January 1998 storm.

Snow forms a backdrop to the Hollywood sign after an El Niño storm in 1998.

The Ventura County Fairgrounds is flooded after an El Niño storm.

Wood lines San Buenaventura State Beach as a crew cleans up the debris left behind by the storms that accompaned El Niño earlier in this year.

A surfer throws up his arms after catching a double-overhead wave at Cloudbreak, south of the Seal Beach Pier.

The Ventura River overflowed after heavy rains in 1998, closing the 101 Freeway for several hours.

An apartment building in Ventura collapsed after heavy rains in 1998.

Andy Harvey, a Ventura County sheriff’s search and rescue team member, swims to a partially submerged vehicle that washed down the Ventura River during in 1998. The vehicle turned out to be unoccupied.