Posted on 12/15/2002 9:32:26 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Edited on 04/12/2004 5:47:01 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Jeremiah Collins carries a pedestrian -- one of several he helped Saturday -- through flooding between the Downtown Plaza and Old Sacramento.
Following a Friday soaking that left an inch of rain in parts of Sacramento, a nastier storm washed through the region Saturday leaving a trail of damage from San Francisco to the Sierra.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Dude, like, SLOW DOWN...
Rain and winds in California? -YAWN-
Waiting for the next tornado and/or ice storm.....
12/15/02
DAVE HOGAN
For today, the Weather Service predicts rain in Western Oregon and Southwest Washington. East winds of 15 to 30 mph are expected near the Columbia River Gorge, with south to southeast winds of 15 to 30 mph elsewhere in the Portland area, and gusts up to 45 mph late in the day.
Winds up to 80 mph on the headlands are expected along the coast.
Mount Hood ski areas found little cheer in the storm Saturday.
Warm, wet weather prevailed at Timberline, Mt. Hood Meadows and Mt. Hood Ski Bowl.
Two chairlifts at Timberline carted diehard skiers up the slopes Saturday, but rain put Sunday's operation on standby.
Mt. Hood Meadows and Mt. Hood Ski Bowl will remain closed at least until Monday.
Forecasts call for freezing levels to drop. If moisture accompanies the lower temperatures, ski areas could find themselves in snow and in business. The Weather Service said 3- to 6-inch snow accumulations were possible in the northern Oregon Cascades, where the snow level is expected to drop to about 2,000 feet by Tuesday.
California flooding The storm also drenched Northern California, where rain-swollen rivers rose to flood levels while high winds, dangerous surf, snow and a rare coastal tornado greeted residents Saturday.
"I would say north of San Francisco on up to Oregon will probably see the worst parts of it," said Diana Henderson of the National Weather Service.
The storm brought the heaviest rain to the coast -- by Saturday morning, the 24-hour rain total in some mountain areas surpassed 9 inches. The downpour eased a bit but gained strength by afternoon, with wind bursts driving rain horizontally in the San Francisco Bay Area.
By midday, rain and thunderstorms prompted flood warnings along the Sacramento, Russian and Napa rivers. Minor flooding was expected when waters crested Saturday evening.
"The river is close, but it has not gone over the edges yet," said Mary Baker, a cashier at the Nu-Way Market in Los Molinos, across the Sacramento River from Tehama.
Flooding in one creek near Redding forced rescuers to pluck a couple from a marooned station wagon late Friday.
Rare tornado In Humboldt County near Ferndale, the Weather Service reported a rare tornado that started as a water spout in the Pacific Ocean and moved ashore about 10:30 a.m. No damage was reported.
Forecasters said winds could reach up to 60 mph. In San Francisco, midday gusts tossed scaffolding from a seven-story building, injuring a passer-by and damaging several cars.
Power outages were reported across the region.
The storm was a mixed blessing for skiers in the Sierras.
Rachael Woods, a spokeswoman for Alpine Meadows on Lake Tahoe's north shore, said lifts were closed Saturday because of winds up to 85 mph. But the weekend's snowfall in the area could total 2 feet or more, and lifts were expected to reopen today.
In Clackamas County, the sheriff's office canceled a search-and-rescue training exercise scheduled for Saturday afternoon on Mount Hood because of the weather. The event was canceled less than 12 hours before more than 100 volunteers were supposed to meet near Government Camp, where a mock emergency scenario, probably involving a "missing person," would have been played out. Emergency workers from a half-dozen agencies had planned to practice lessons learned from a May climbing accident on Mount Hood. The Air National Guard's 1042nd Air Ambulance had planned to conduct a hoist operation. The Associated Press and Gail Kinsey Hill and Melissa Jones of The Oregonian staff contributed to this report. Dave Hogan: 503-221-8531; davehogan@news.oregonian.com
I'm going up to Big White in Canada in a couple of weeks -- they're supposed to get over 60 inches in the coming week alone.
By Duff Wilson
Seattle Times staff reporter
Three-quarters of an inch of rain in two deluges flooded roads and frightened drivers yesterday but failed to throw a wet blanket on Christmas shoppers.
It rained so hard in late afternoon that Cindy Sykes' sports car barely swam through a pond in the slow lane of southbound Interstate 5 by Mercer Street.
"There was nobody ahead of me to throw up a rooster tail, then I hit it," she said. "My Miata turned into a minnow. I just got through. Then my brakes didn't work for two blocks. I was terrified driving in that rain, and I like driving in the rain."
City workers responded to 40 calls for street flooding yesterday afternoon, mostly in North Seattle. Seattle Public Utilities dispatched an extra crew and a vacuum truck to clear debris from drain lines, spokeswoman Susan Stoltzfus said.
A manager at the downtown Nordstrom, surveying shoppers, said, "They're coming in wet, but they're coming in anyway."
It poured twice during the day as fronts moved through, said Doug McConnal, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.
The 24-hour total was about three-quarters of an inch from Seattle to Portland, half an inch to the north and east of Seattle, and up to 2 inches on the coast.
"All those people who were getting frustrated by the dry autumn should now be happy," McConnal said. "It's hard to notice when you have this much wind and rain, but the temperatures across Western Washington were quite mild, and they're going to be quite mild (today)."
The day's 59-degree high set a Seattle-Tacoma International Airport record for the date. A 60-degree reading was recorded at Seattle's Federal Building in 1952.
But the Weather Service predicts a windstorm on the coast and around Bellingham and Whidbey Island late today. Then the temperature will drop while showers continue all week.
Seattle police and the Washington State Patrol reported no major problems from the rain.
Seven people were hurt, three seriously, in a four-car accident that blocked I-5 southbound near Federal Way starting at 2:41 a.m. That was caused by an SUV striking an unoccupied vehicle parked on the shoulder. The freeway was closed for four hours.
Duff Wilson: 206-464-2288 or dwilson@seattletimes.com
Hemlocks are a problem, but it's the widowmakers that scare me the most, for the first couple of years after they've died, you cant tell. I guess they all can't be like cedars.
About 30,000 Bay Area resident are without powerful, one of the results of a powerful Pacific storm that continues to rumble through Northern California today.
Throughout the weekend, heavy rains and high winds have flooded roads, soaked holiday shoppers and snuffed out power to hundreds of thousands of customers. At times, 50- to 60-mph wind gusts toppled trees and snapped power lines.
The remnant of a typhoon that hit Guam last week with 150 mph winds cut power to more than half a million Pacific Gas & Electric customers throughout Northern California, including more than 300,000 in the Bay Area, said utility spokesman Jeff Smith.
The worst of the storm struck Saturday afternoon, though rain, thunder and lightning continued into the night. A slightly weaker storm is expected to begin this afternoon and intensify tonight and off-and-on showers are likely throughout the week, said National Weather Service meteorologist Rebecca Waddington.
49er fans should probably bring their rain gear for this afternoon's 1:15 game at Candlestick Park, Waddington said, and expect showers by the end of the game.
Shopping in rain
Heavy rains sent holiday shoppers scurrying for cover Saturday.
``I'm going to have to swim to my car,'' quipped Linda Hernandez as the east San Jose resident emerged from Eastridge Mall in a downpour with an armful of shopping bags.
The storm system that moved in Friday dumped as much as 9 inches of rain in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 48 hours and more than 11 inches in Sonoma County, said weather service meteorologist Steve Markkanen.
The storm packed steady winds of 20 to 30 mph, and the highest gust was 81 mph, recorded at a remote station on the Sonoma County coast between Guerneville and Fort Ross, Markkanen said.
The storm cut power to 20,000 in San Jose, 46,000 in Cupertino, Saratoga, Los Altos and Mountain View, 40,000 in San Francisco and the Peninsula, and 17,000 in the Santa Cruz area, said Jeff Smith, a spokesman for PG&E. There were still more than 63,000 Bay Area customers without power Saturday night, he said.
Ginny Kinkead of Saratoga lost power at noon as powerful winds rocked her Pike Road home.
``It was very fierce, very scary and sort of exciting,'' Kinkead said. ``You could feel the whole house shaking. I was trying to light a fire and couldn't get it going because the wind kept coming down the chimney so hard it blew ashes out into the room.''
By evening, nibbling cold cheese and crackers by candlelight, Kinkead decided to go see ``My Big Fat Greek Wedding'' at a movie theater with a generator and warm popcorn.
The storm caused some interruptions with television station KNTV's reception.
PG&E fielded 3,400 technicians, many on overtime or called in from outside the Bay Area, to handle outages, advising customers in cities to expect waits up to 24 hours and longer in remote areas.
An urban and small stream flood advisory was in effect throughout the Bay Area until 9 p.m. for possible ``nuisance'' flooding, Markkanen said. A flash flood advisory was issued in Sonoma County, where the Russian River rose 20 feet in a day to crest six feet below flood stage, Markkanen said. A flash flood watch was in effect until 9 a.m. today throughout Santa Cruz County.
A high surf advisory remains in effect through Tuesday for waves up to 25 feet or more. No problems from heavy seas were reported Saturday.
River rising
In Felton, where the fire station rain gauge showed 9 inches of rain, residents along the San Lorenzo River were keeping a wary eye on the banks as muddy water surged downstream.
``If it gets to the red reflector, that's when I move on out,'' said Maura Zink, 43, pointing to a mark on an oak tree along the riverbank.
The storm caused moderate, scattered damage including collapsing part of a Rite Aid drugstore roof in Santa Cruz.
In San Francisco, strong wind gusts sent scaffolding on a seven-story building crashing to the ground shortly after noon. A pedestrian suffered a broken leg as a result of the flying debris. Several windows in nearby buildings were shattered and five cars were damaged, said police Sgt. Steve Roche.
It was pretty messy elsewhere in the city, too. Fallen trees straddled busy corridors such as Van Ness Avenue and Haight Street, and PG&E workers kept busy responding to reports of downed power lines.
Along the Peninsula, dispatchers in Mountain View and Palo Alto found themselves answering a lot of calls about trees toppled by high winds.
``There's trees all over the place,'' one Palo Alto dispatcher said.
Playin' in the rain
Along University Avenue in Palo Alto, members of the Los Trancos Woods Community Marching Band took it all in stride. As the rain came down in horizontal sheets, they sought shelter for themselves and their brass instruments under the marquee of the Stanford Theatre.
Costumed in red-and-white Santa hats, they cheerily played and sang Christmas favorites. In their rush to get out of the storm, they hadn't even noticed the movie title on the marquee -- ``Singin' in the Rain.''
``Purely accidental,'' drum sergeant-major Matt Wahlin insisted.
Eleanor Oelsner, walking by with a huge striped umbrella, started singing along.
``I think that when joyous spirits get together it doesn't matter about the weather,'' she said. ``I'm grateful for them.''
Near Lake Tahoe, the storm was expected to dump up to 2 feet of snow in the mountains. Wind gusts reached 82 mph in Reno and 134 mph at Squaw Peak on the Sierra Nevada crest, according to the National Weather Service. Interstates 80 and 50 were open Saturday, but chain controls were in effect and traffic was being stopped periodically because of poor visibility and accidents.
The next storm due to arrive tonight was expected to bring up to another 2 feet of snow and keep roads treacherous, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Patrick Johnson.
Slick roads contributed to a spate of accidents with minor injuries around the Bay Area, and also led to a fatal crash near Dublin early Saturday morning.
Alex Lopez, 23, of Modesto was killed when his white Nissan Sentra crashed into a Toyota 4-Runner at the junction of state Highway 84 and Interstate 680 near Dublin.
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