Another Big Storm System Coming in Saturday Night

UPDATE 9:45 a.m. Sunday: Flash flood warnings issued by the National Weather Service in Santa Clara County.

According to the warning issued by the weather service, "runoff from heavy rainfall will cause localized flooding of small creeks and streams as well as roadways, underpasses and other low-lying spots."

PG& E reports minor, and one major, power outages in the following areas of Silicon Valley:

Campbell: 2 outages affecting 44 customers

Cupertino: 1 outages affecting 1 customer

Los Altos: 3 outages affecting 14 customers

Los Gatos: 4 outages affecting 223 customers

Mountain View: 6 outages affecting 6 customers

UPDATE 1 P.M. Saturday: PG&E reports minor power outages in the following areas of Silicon Valley at this hour:

Mountain View: 2 outages affecting 2 customers

Los Gatos: 2 outages in the Lexington Hills affecting 1 customer and 1 outage in town

UPDATE 12 NOON Saturday: The series of storms that began soaking the area Wednesday evening will continue through Sunday with another big downpour coming in Saturday evening, said National Weather Service hydrologist Mark Strudley

The system's last storm came in Thursday night and intensified on Friday and tonight's storm will pound the North Bay and the Santa Cruz Mountains heavely, Strudley added.

Big precipitation numbers are expected in the Santa Lucia area in Big Sur and the Monterey County Mountains and similar or bigger rainfall totals are anticipated as those from Thursday's system, Strudley said. "A lot of these creeks and rivers that responded to Thursday's storm, will respond even more strongly to tonight's system. There are a couple of big rivers that will flood, such as Russian River."

Fortunately, no rivers or creeks in the Santa Clara County or Monterey area are expected to overflow, he said. Streams in these areas could flash flood, but Strudley had no predictions as to which ones might.

In the past 24 hours, the Los Gatos Lexington Reservoir area had received 1.18 inches of rain, with a total of 6.34 inches recorded in the past 96 hours.

The Soquel area had seen 2.48 inches of rain in the last four days and .59 in the last 24 hours.

Santa Cruz's city proper, near Capitola, had received .4 to .5 inches in the last 24 hours.

In the Saratoga Mountains, just west of city proper, 1½ inches of precipitation had fallen, but moving down to the valley the rain total for the past 24 hours dropped to .51 inches.

The Mountain View, Cupertino and Sunnyvale areas had seen anywhere between .1 to .3 inches, but moving up into the area's mountains, in the Stevens Creek area above Cupertino, 1.39 inches had been recorded in the past 24 hours.

The Los Altos hilly areas to the west of city proper had seen .52 to .54 inches of rain in the same time frame.

UPDATE 1:00 p.m. Friday

As a persistent storm continues to soak Silicon Valley, the National Weather Service says the heaviest rainfall in the region has been recorded in the North Bay.

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.

The storm system was moving southeast through the Bay Area late this morning and is expected to soak the entire region for the rest of the day, forecaster Diana Henderson said.

Very minor outages are being reported in the area. In the Santa Cruz Mountains, the outage in Ben Lomond has been reduced from over 1000 customers to a current estimate of 340.

UPDATE 10:45 a.m. Friday:

PG&E is reporting some minor power outages in the following areas of Silicon Valley at this hour:

Saratoga: 6 outages affecting 18 customers

Campbell: 2 outages affecting 13 customers

Los Gatos: 7 outages affecting 12 customers

The largest outage in the area is in Ben Lomond, where over 1000 customers have been without power since 9:23 a.m. Friday.

A total of about 4,600 PG&E customers in the Bay Area are without power this morning because of storm-related outages, a utility spokesman said.

The storm had caused outages to nearly 16,000 Bay Area PG&E customers at its peak overnight, according to PG&E.

UPDATE 10 a.m. Friday: The recent storm system that's been pounding the area since Thursday evening is due to a cold front that hit the North Bay last night, with the brunt of it having passed through the Bay Area and is now headed to Santa Cruz, Monterey and south Santa Clara County area, said National Weather Service meteorologist Diana Henderson.

So far the system has dumped in the past 24 hours 6½ inches of rain in the Lexington Reservoir area of Los Gatos, about 1½ inches in South County in the Morgan Hill area, 1⅓ inches in Palo Alto and 1 inch in Moffet Field in Mountain View.

Henderson said most of the rain falls in the hills rather than in the flat lands, which explains the low numbers for Moffet Field, the North Bay and San Jose. "As it moves south it will affect the Monterey area."

A flash flood advisory remains in effect in the area to warn residents that "it's raining a lot. There might be some street flooding," Henderson said. "It's going to be a bit dicey on the highways. There might be ponding water here and there and street flooding in the urban areas."

Those who live up in the mountains should keep an eye on nearby streams due to rapid water rise, Henderson said.

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Residents can pick up free sandbags 

PG&E has these tips on the storm and outages.

UPDATE 4:45 p.m. Thursday

While all power service in Silicon Valley has now been restored, the expected onslaught of rain and wind from a second storm to move through the area in two days has caused the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood watch beginning at 7 p.m. tonight for the Peninsula and Santa Cruz Mountains. Several inches of rain is expected to fall in those areas.

The watch is set to remain in place through Friday afternoon.

Friday morning several severe weather advisories will be issued throughout the region.

Starting at 8 a.m. a wind advisory will be in place for strong and gusty winds blowing through with the potential to knock down trees and power
lines. The advisory is expected to expire at 2 p.m. Friday.

UPDATE 2:30 p.m. Thursday

The Community Services Agency in Mountain View lost power briefly in the morning due to a downed power line, confirmed its Executive Director Tom Myers.

UPDATE 10:00 a.m. Thursday

Downed trees have left about 20 PG&E customers in Saratoga without power since just before 10:00 p.m. last night. The company expects to restore that service before 2:00 p.m. today. And about a dozen customers are without service in Cupertino. Otherwise, all power has been restored throughout the rest of the Valley.

Rain is likely this afternoon in our area, according to the National Weather Service, as a front moves down the coastline from the north. Rain is likely to continue this evening, as winds will begin to pick up in strength, a precursor to Friday, when a third storm with gusty winds and heavy rainfall is expected.

A high surf advisory over on the coast is in effect from 9 a.m. Friday to 4 a.m.  Saturday.

UPDATE 5:30 p.m. Wednesday

PG&E crews have made significant progress in restoring power for hundreds of Silicon Valley businesses and residents tonight.

As of 5:30 p.m., there remained two notable outages. In Mountain View, a new outage that began shortly before 4:00 p.m. has 98 customers without power. In Los Gatos, 96 remain with no power. All but 11 customers in Saratoga now have power restored, and everyone in Campbell has the lights back on.

Ben Lomand and Boulder Creek have about 200 outages respectively.

UPDATE 3:30 p.m.

The National Weather Service just released information indicating the strongest winds encountered today in the Bay Area were right here in Santa Clara County, including a 75 mph gust at a location in Los Gatos. A chart is attached to this article. In addition, the NWS is now predicting our area will have somewhere between two to four inches of rain before the end of the rainy period on Monday.

Meantime, the Boulder Creek power outage has grown, with more than 2,000 PG&E customers powerless. 218 are still without power in Saratoga, and 110 in Los Gatos. In Campbell, power is back on for all but two customers. 

UPDATE 2:15 p.m.

According to PG&E, some 218 customers remain without power at this hour in Saratoga. 45 have no power in Campbell, 120 in Los Gatos. Twenty customers remain without power in Mountain View. Very minor outages exist in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, and Cupertino.

The largest power outage in our area is up in the Santa Cruz mountains - in Boulder Creek - where over 1000 PG&E customers have no power.

UPDATE 12:38 p.m.

PG&E is reporting four outages in Campbell affecting 43 customers as of 12:24 p.m. this afternoon. Crews are assessing the outage. No estimate for when services will be restored yet.

UPDATE 12:00 p.m.

PG&E is reporting a power outage in Saratoga affecting 204 customers as of 11:45 a.m. this morning. Crews on the scene estimate they will have service restored by 2:15 p.m.

The outage in Mountain View has now been resolved for all but 20 customers.

UPDATE 11:25 a.m.

PG&E is reporting eight power outages in Mountain View affecting 164 customers as of 10:47 a.m. this morning. There is no estimated time for restoration of service at this time.

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An unusually heavy rain storm began to move through the area Wednesday morning, slowing commuters on their way to school and work, causing traffic accidents, and creating power outages in some parts of the Bay Area.

Parts of Union City and San Francisco were without power. Inbound flights to San Francisco International Airport were delayed by as many as three and a half hours, duty manager Nancie Parker said. 

According to the National Weather Service, a high wind warning is in effect until 11 a.m. Thunderstorms and rain can be expected this morning.

Southeast winds are likely to be between 30 and 45 mph with gusts around 60 mph.

By this evening, mostly cloudy skies and showers are expected. Rain and heavy winds are again likely Thursday.

-Bay City News contributed to this report.