As a storm continues to batter the Bay Area from Thursday night into this morning, 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 late this morning and is expected to soak the entire region for the rest of the day, forecaster Diana Henderson said.
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.
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 is in effect for the Monterey Bay area, while the rest of the Bay Area is 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 is in place until 2 p.m. this 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 this morning at about 10 mph, she said.
Because of the storm, the California Highway Patrol has reported an abundance of flooded roadways throughout the region this 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 this 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.
As of 11 a.m., 3,700 customers in the Bay Area are still without power because of storm-related outages, according to PG&E officials.
In the North Bay, 2,200 customers were affected, while others impacted by the outages include 390 in the East Bay, 160 in San Francisco, 650 along the Peninsula, and 320 in the South Bay.
In the Santa Cruz Mountains, 1,400 customers were without power and an additional 1,300 customers were affected in Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey counties, according to the utility.
At its peak, the storm caused nearly 16,000 customers to lose power overnight in the Bay Area, according to PG&E officials.
The forecaster Henderson said steady rain is expected to fall through the end of the weekend.
Sasha Lekach, Bay City News
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