San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Heavy rain closes roads, cuts power
Heavy rain and strong winds pounded the Bay Area on Saturday, causing transit delays, road closures, mudslides and traffic jams because of flooding, and knocking the power out to thousands of customers.
Cars slowed to a crawl Saturday morning on Highway 101 in both directions in and out of San
Francisco as drivers kicked up large white splashes of water driving through several patches of heavy flooding along the freeway. As the cars waded through 2 to 3 feet of water between the Brisbane and San Francisco International Airport exits, the California Highway Patrol closed 101 in both directions indefinitely because of the major flooding at 11 a.m.
Several other roads around the Bay Area were also affected by the downpour. Streets in Belmont, Foster City and San Mateo were flooded, according to the San Mateo Consolidated Fire Department, while in the East Bay, a mudslide forced the closure of Niles Canyon Road at 8 a.m., the Fremont Police Department tweeted.
A large stretch of Highway 1 in Monterey County was indefinitely closed Saturday morning because of rockslides reported at multiple locations along the highway, said Caltrans officials.
The storm left more than 30,000 customers in several counties throughout Northern California in the dark Saturday morning. By noon, power for much of the Bay Area had been restored.
Public transportation and parks were also affected. BART reported systemwide delays of up to 20 minutes because of the wet weather and equipment problems on trains.
Meanwhile, a slew of national parks, including Muir Woods National Monument in Marin County and the Fort Point National Historical Site in San Francisco, were shuttered Saturday because of the flooding and downed trees, park officials tweeted. Alcatraz also closed for the day.
In the Sierra, officials were expecting 2 to 4 feet of snow Saturday through Sunday, “as long as we don’t see a return of rain,” tweeted the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab. By 8 a.m. Saturday, UC Berkeley officials recorded 3.9 inches of snow.
Ski lifts at some resorts were on hold because of the snowy conditions, while others decided to close their resorts for the day.
Heavenly Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe halted several lifts Saturday morning and later closed for the day. Palisades Tahoe said most of its chairs were on hold, but some lifts were still operating at Alpine Meadows. Heavenly closed entirely just before 11 a.m., saying on Twitter that there were multiple power lines down.