Obviously, the situation in southern California is a pretty scary one right now. Even with Hurricane Hilary being downgraded to a tropical storm, the area has still seen some pretty devastating weather over the last few days.
There was a magnitude-5.1 earthquake Sunday that hit parts of southern California, along with some pretty bad aftershocks that came with it. The thing that we’re hearing about most today, though, is the flooding that has come along with the tropical storm.
There are parts of California that are just covered in water right now. Things have slowed down a bit, but even the remnants of the hurricane have brought some pretty dangerous flooding conditions to the area.
For much of Monday, people thought that those dangerous flooding conditions were also impacting Dodger Stadium. There was a photo and a video circulating around the internet that seemed to indicate that it was true. It also didn’t help that the storm was essentially directly over the stadium, per the Los Angeles Times.
But, contrary to popular belief, it seems that Dodger Stadium isn’t actually flooded. In fact, it looks just fine.
Wait, you're telling me Dodger Stadium isn't actually flooded?
From the look of things, it doesn’t appear to be. The Dodgers’ Twitter account tweeted out images of the stadium in the aftermath of the storm and things seem to be fine.
Dodger Stadium trending? We get it. It looks beautiful this morning. pic.twitter.com/oIrZjndZoZ
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 21, 2023
To be clear, the Dodgers are not saying that the stadium didn’t flood. But they are saying that, as of this morning, this is what the stadium looks like. And, to us here, it looks fine.
The ground seems to be damp, sure. But, otherwise, there’s not a ton of visible flood damage. It’s also hard to believe that, if the stadium was flooded at all, it’d drain away that quickly.
We reached out to the team for clarity on the situation but have not heard a response as of yet.
So then why were people saying the stadium was flooded?
It was super easy to believe it because of a photo and a video that were circulating around the internet on Monday.
There were posts like this one that showed an aerial view from a helicopter of the stadium in the midst of the storm.
Aerial view of Dodger stadium yesterday pic.twitter.com/emte2Gcn07
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 21, 2023
There was also this photo that essentially showed the exact same thing from the same angle.
Dodger Stadium is an island. pic.twitter.com/g2mQrKzgS3
— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) August 21, 2023
Those images led people to believe that the stadium was flooded.
So what's actually going on here?
It’s honestly hard to say exactly what’s going on, mostly because of the ambiguity of the original video. Most people were pulling the video from this Dodger Aerial account on Twitter.
To be clear, this isn’t an official Los Angeles Dodgers account. It didn’t say anything about the stadium being flooded. It only provided an aerial view in the rain.
Dodger stadium this morning #Dodgerstadium #dodgerblue #copterpilot #dodgerlife #dodgers #dodgertown #doyers #blueheaven #LA #LADodgers #playball #losangelesaerial #dodgeraerial pic.twitter.com/FFZ7OMZ8Ti
— Los Angeles Dodgers Aerial Photography (@DodgerAerial) August 21, 2023
To be sure, For The Win reached out to the account to verify the video. We asked whether the video belonged to the account and whether the parking lot was, indeed, flooded. We did not receive a response to that question.
From that view, it looks like the concrete of the parking lot is just shiny. It reflects the trees and lights in the area and makes it appear like water has filled the parking lot.
Still, it’s hard to say exactly what is going on here without being there on the ground. Especially considering the fact that there’s no tarp on the diamond and the grounds are completely exposed to the elements. That’s not normal behavior for a baseball team.
Wow. Is there more evidence out there?
There’s not anything directly about the photo, but Rene Garcia, who is a groundskeeper at Dodger Stadium, took to Instagram to call a report about the flood “fake news.”
So why didn't anyone say anything about this before?
There actually were people online who were refuting claims about the stadium being flooded.
Original 🎥 post of Dodger stadium where the viral 📸 came from. I'm attaching comparison. It's just wet, shiny pavement making it look like floodwaters. #Hilary https://t.co/17URaklLAT pic.twitter.com/n5IuECtARx
— Tim Ballisty (@IrishEagle) August 21, 2023
…this is an average parking lot in florida after rain. it’s just wet pavement. not a flood. https://t.co/zoAjkwV8Bq
— Catherine Tinker (@catherinetinker) August 21, 2023
Hate the dodgers as much as the next guy but this is
1- very good angle that is an illusion
2- an old photo from previous years or something
If dodger stadium was flooded every single media outlet would be going crazy and it would be all over people’s stories https://t.co/1p2ive5SVM
— ARTE LEAVE (@arteleave) August 21, 2023
Doesn’t look much different when it is not raining. #DodgerStadium https://t.co/uD9e1gT2nz pic.twitter.com/30wmrlZBQJ
— 🌵 Emma 🌵 (@emmz_az) August 21, 2023
So, no, it does not appear to be flooded. It did rain a lot. And there are some areas in Los Angeles that are, indeed, flooded. But this does not appear to be one of them.
The internet is a wild place.
