Bay Area Soaked By Powerful Storm; Flood Worries Increase
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - As a storm continues to batter the Bay Area from Thursday night into Friday afternoon, the heaviest rainfall has been recorded in the North Bay, according to a National Weather Service forecaster.
The storm system was moving southeast through the Bay Area early Friday afternoon and was expected to soak the entire region for the rest of the day, forecaster Diana Henderson said.
One person was killed in a storm-related accident near Sacramento. A Pacific Gas & Electric worker died when his truck crashed into a traffic signal pole during the storm.
In the past 24 hours, parts of Sonoma County saw more than 7.5 inches of rain while the Santa Cruz Mountains were deluged with 7 inches. Rainfall in the past day was recorded at 4.33 inches in Calistoga.
In downtown San Francisco, 1.18 inches of rain was recorded with somewhat higher measurements at San Francisco International Airport and other parts of the Peninsula, Henderson said.
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Henderson said more severe weather is expected to affect the region's more mountainous areas and some areas along the coast.
Just before 11:30 a.m., an urban and small stream flood advisory was issued for all Bay Area counties until 2:30 p.m. because of many reports of flooded streets, highways, underpasses and small creeks.
A flash flood warning was in effect for the Monterey Bay area, while the rest of the Bay Area was under a flash flood watch through the weekend, Henderson said.
"It's a heads up basically that conditions are ripe," she said.
A wind advisory was in place until 2 p.m. Friday afternoon for the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas, with strongest winds expected along the coast.
Henderson said wind was more prevalent overnight. Gusts have become more benign late Friday morning at about 10 mph, she said.
KCBS' Chris Filippi Reports:
Thousands of people were without power Friday morning and into the afternoon. As of 11 a.m., 3,700 customers in the Bay Area were still without power because of storm-related outages, according to PG&E officials.
Because of the storm, the California Highway Patrol has reported an abundance of flooded roadways throughout the region Friday morning.
In the San Francisco area, there are flooded lanes and freeway ramps including the Silver Avenue and Octavia Boulevard on-ramps to southbound U.S. Highway 101, according to the CHP.
A lot of water has also pooled on southbound Highway 101 near San Francisco International Airport, according to the CHP.
In the North Bay, a vehicle got stuck this morning at Ross Station Road at Ross Branch Road near Sebastopol, while other flooded roadways have been reported at Rohnert Park Expressway at Stony Point near Santa Rosa.
In Hayward, heavy flooding was reported along A Street Friday morning, while in Fairfield the westbound Interstate Highway 80 Air Base Parkway off-ramp was reportedly completely flooded.
Near Woodside, there was a foot of water reported on Interstate Highway 280 at Woodside Road.
Henderson said steady rain is expected to fall through the end of the weekend.
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