Wild, wet and windy weather strikes the Bay Area

MARIN COUNTY, California - As expected, the Bay Area took a pounding of wet and windy weather overnight and into Thursday from the latest winter storm to hit the area. 

The atmospheric river will continue to dump moderate to heavy rain on the region with increasing winds and a chance of thunderstorms. These conditions are expected to continue into the evening through Friday morning. 

The entire area may see localized flooding and landslides are also possible. 

Warnings and Advisories 

A high-wind warning is in effect until Friday at 10 p.m. for San Francisco County, Northern Monterey Bay, the Peninsula coast, Santa Cruz Mountains, the Coastal North Bay, including Point Reyes National Seashore. 

A wind advisory is in effect for the interior Bay Area and Central Coast regions until Friday morning due to winds up to 40 mph and gusts up to 60 mph that could make trees fall, snap power lines, move debris, and cause property damage. 

Mt. Umunhum in the Santa Cruz Mountains saw an 81 mph gust of wind today. Around noon, a wind gust of 62 mph was recorded at SFO International Airport. 

The entire Bay Area is under a flood watch through Saturday evening, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters said to expect excessive rainfall, rapid runoff and pounding and flood threats at creeks and streams. 

A high-surf warning is in effect for the entire coastline due to breaking waves of up to 30 feet and waves up to 45 feet on west-facing beaches. 

Evacuation warnings have gone out for parts of Salinas, Prunedale and areas along the Carmel River, the Monterey County Sheriff's Office said Thursday afternoon. 

People can find out if they are in an area under an evacuation warning at this link. 

Meanwhile, in the Sierra, a winter storm warning is in effect through Friday at 10 p.m. Tahoe could see 2 to 5 feet of snow. 

East Bay

In Martinez, a large tree snapped and landed onto two cars along Pacheco Boulevard, blocking the entire street. 

"I heard a crack and then it sounded like a big car crash, looked out and there it was... the lady was lucky that she made it as far as she did," said resident Steven Gardner. 

The tree crushed the back end of a gray sedan, but the driver was remarkably unharmed. 

"I just asked her how she was feeling and she said she was just driving and she was more in shock than anything else, she was just walking around like, 'What do I do now?'" said Melissa Gardner, who rushed to help the driver.

The tree also caused damage to the Gardner family’s car, which was parked outside their home on Pacheco Boulevard. 

"That was insane, the roots are bad, the whole thing, it looks like it was just waiting for a time to do it," said Melissa of the giant tree.  

For nearby resident John Alexander, the incident served as a reminder to consider the potential dangers posed by the storm.

"We just got a lot of rain recently and I just bought the property recently and we've got a number of big trees around here as you can see, so it had me thinking that maybe it’s a good idea to play it safe and get the trees checked out soon," he said.

Earlier in the day, heavy rain flooded westbound I-580 at Redwood Road in Castro Valley, forcing Caltrans crews to drain several lanes before dawn. Parts of I-880 near Dixon Landing Road were also flooded, causing at least one driver to lose control of his car, which had to be towed. 

North Bay 

A rock slide is covering a portion of southbound US 101 in Marin County. The California Highway Patrol - Marin said there is a traffic alert south of Rodeo Avenue. CHP posted photos of the rock slide just after 8 p.m. The rocks are blocking three lanes of traffic. It is unclear when the rocks will be removed and the lanes reopened. Officials said use caution in the area as they work to clear the area. 

The weather also caused some tree falls in the North Bay along with local flooding and traffic stopping road flooding.

The Marinwood family whose home got flooded last week when a concrete drain got blocked by water carrying debris, is doing everything it can to avoid more flooding, adding to the already six-figure damage. 

"I hired a team of people yesterday that basically went into this open space and took out all of the wood and debris and you can see piles of wood that we've created on areas of elevation," said owner Dara Sherafat. 

The family's insurance company denied their claim, saying stream flooding is not covered. The family does not live in a flood zone and their lender did not require federal flood insurance.

The owner says a long-time neighbor said the 30-year-old drain that clogged was supposed to be replaced decades ago. "That they were gonna make improvements over the years. But, that never happened," said Sherafat.

But now the damage has been done. The only question left is who will pay? 

A gofundme page has been set up to help the family. 

"I just need help from my community and from the city and from the county," said Sherafat.

To the north, in Santa Rosa, first responders were standing by in case the local Sutter healthcare facility had another flooded parking lot that recently required sheltering in place and patients to be moved. So far on Thursday, no such call came. 

"There was some emergency work that was done to alleviate the potential of a backup, but as of right now, it's been flowing as needed," said Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal of the Santa Rosa Fire Department.

With soaked and saturated soils everywhere, the multiple dangers of mudslides, landslide, rockfalls and tree falls persist. "It makes those weakened trees just that much easier to come down," said the Fire Marshal.

Though these rockfalls were caught and stopped by the chain link fence, big falls would slam right through. Freezing weather can aggravate cracks if ice forms between rocks and can cause hillside rock falls.

Peninsula

The Pacifica Pier, known for its massive coastal waves, saw a knocked down tree take out power for hundreds in the area, including a preschool. 

One area resident visiting the pier described feeling the cold and wet blast. 

"It almost knocked me over. I felt like I was going to fly away," said Drew Malcom of Daly City. He and Shemaine Quimson were hoping to do some crab fishing. "We were hoping to come back. Didn't know it was going to be this windy," he said.  

Many said they were worried about flooding in the area. 

Some said they had sandbags ready. Others said they were driving with more caution, wary of flooded roadways. 

In South San Francisco, officials said a tree came down at Westborough Boulevard and Galway Place. The fire chief said 500 customers lost power as a result. 

For one family, it was a particularly scary power outage. That's because the resident, Reynaldo Apolonario needs oxygen. When the power went out, so did his oxygen machine.

They called 911 and first responders helped set up a generator. 

Down the street there was another concern: The city's preschool on Galway place was in the dark and cold. There were no lights or heat for the children. Parents said they received an emergency message. 

"I just got a call from the preschool that we had to come due to the storms when they lost power at 10 a.m. because of the drop in temperature," said parent Kris Romasanto. 

South Bay & Santa Cruz Mountains 

In Santa Cruz County, authorities ordered evacuations in some communities by the San Lorenzo River in Felton and Corralitos Creek in the community of Watsonville.  By mid-afternoon, those orders were lifted, but there are new concerns about high winds. 

"So especially on Friday, we are advising people to stay off the beaches – rocks, jetties –  it is not safe. The words ‘life threatening" have been used by the National Weather Service to us," said Jason Hoppin, a spokesperson for Santa Cruz County.  The weather service alert says there could be "dangerously large breaking waves of up to 20 to 30 feet and up to 45 feet for the highest waves on west-facing beaches."

In Watsonville, several major roads were closed on Thursday morning due to flooding, including College Road and Holohan Road where they cross Highway 152. A resident in the area, Chris Harris, put up plastic and sandbags and moved his vehicles to higher ground.   

"It is recommended that folks evacuate because the water levels here can get pretty high. Low water clearance vehicles would stall out," Harris said.

Due to the high surf warning, the City of Santa Cruz announced its popular wharf will be closed to visitors all day on Friday.  

The city, along with California State Parks, are also closing some popular beaches on Friday including Seabright State Beach, Natural Bridges State Beach and Cowell Beach.

The CHP Santa Cruz office posted photos of a mudslide along Soquel Santa Cruz road which has been cleared.  A tree also fell Thursday afternoon along Empire Grade Road at Jamison Creek Road, which closed one lane of southbound traffic.

Firefighters in San Jose rescued two adults and four dogs, including puppies, when they became trapped on an island in the Guadalupe River. The boat rescue happened at around 4:30 p.m. Officials said one of the adults was evaluated and warmed, but ultimately refused to be transported to a hospital. 

Power outages

Pacific Gas and Electric sent an update of the latest power outages this afternoon. The South Bay and the Peninsula are seeing the brunt of outages. 

North Bay  -  863
San Francisco - 8
Peninsula  - 1,763
East Bay  - 367
South Bay  - 1,798

Bay Area Total: 4,799

Rainfall totals

In the past 24 hours as of 5 p.m. 

• San Francisco 1.70"
• Redwood City 2.63"
• Santa Rosa 2.38"
• San Jose 1.34"
• Boulder Creek 5.24"
• Walnut Creek 2.77"
• Dublin 2.69"

When will we see relief?

According to the NWS, conditions in the region will improve Friday, with some light rain expected in the North Bay Sunday. KTVU Meteorologist Mark Tamayo says no major storms are on the horizon after this current system heads out the area. 

Bay City News contributed to this story. 

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