Atmospheric River: Parts of San Mateo County Pummeled with Heavy Rain, Flooding

SAN MATEO COUNTY (CBS SF) -- The atmospheric river that brought drenching rain and high winds across Northern California was causing no shortage of problems in San Mateo County Sunday night.

Late Sunday night, there were reports of flash flooding near the BART station in Millbrae.

The Millbrae exit off southbound Highway 101 just south of the San Francisco International Airport was completely flooded, with a nearby roadway turning into a river.

The stretch of Millbrae Avenue near Rollins Road is a common late-night stop for drivers with a very popular In-N-Out Burger and two gas stations.

Video posted on Twitter showed some cars that were disabled in the middle of the roadway after getting stuck in the water trying to forge through.

Flooding was causing additional hazards for drivers along southbound I-280 earlier in the evening with the left lanes under over a foot of water on parts of the freeway between San Francisco and Daly City.

Caltrans workers blocked off lanes because of the major flooding, reducing traffic to a crawl..

A husband and wife KPIX spoke with were on the road all day and night to get to a wedding this week.

"I came to a complete stop because of a lot of water. It's unusual. We're not used to that," said Brian Kelly.

While flooding was causing plenty of problems on the road, including the closure of Highway 1 in Pacifica for several hours, some area residents were unfazed.

"Everybody seems to be driving pretty slow, but it will pass," said Eric Lisk of Pacifica.

With downed power lines and widespread outages in homes on the Peninsula -- there were upwards of 30,000 PG&E customers without power at points -- some stopping by to charge up their phones at a local pizza parlor in Pacifica.

"The power has been out since this morning. It was flickering and it's still out," said Pacifica resident Parker Rozzano-Keefe.

Part of State Route 35 was also closed for a time Sunday night.

The bomb cyclone delivering the heavy rain is commanding respect.

"It's far worse than I've ever seen. It's extraordinary. You have to respect mother nature. It's dangerous but beautiful," said Pacifica resident Josh Esparza.

In:
• Flooding