A Wet and Wild Day
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
Jan. 26, 2001
A powerful winter storm, aided by strong gusts of wind, raked the Bay Area on Thursday, knocking down power lines, making highways slick and crowning Mount Diablo with 2 inches of snow.
The steady afternoon deluge, which included hail and lightning, swept through the Bay Area starting about 2 p.m. before heading south to pound the coastline.
It led to scattered power outages, scores of freeway spinouts, partially flooded highways, uprooted trees and lengthy flight delays at San Francisco International Airport.
"It rained hard for a while, but the saving grace was that the cold front started to move out by the late afternoon," said meteorologist Shane Snyder of the National Weather Service.
Forecasters predict more rain today, with a possible thunderstorm. Clouds are expected to decrease tonight.
The weekend will bring clear and sunny skies throughout the East Bay, according to the National Weather Service.
About 3 p.m. Thursday, snow began to fall at Mount Diablo, forcing park rangers to close the park above the ranger station.
A short time later, fierce winds reaching 96 mph swirled over the mountain, said Dave Matthews, a supervising ranger with the East Bay Regional Park District.
"Oddly enough, we had some people eating lunch up in the summit parking lot, even though you couldn't see your feet in front of your face," he said.
The storm, fueled by 50 mph winds in many areas, rocked coastal communities the hardest, dumping about an inch of rain in San Rafael in only a few hours.
It also prompted a heavy surf advisory, with swells expected to reach 21 feet, which will remain in effect today.
About 10,000 Pacific Gas & Electric Co. customers were without power at one point Thursday, said spokeswoman Staci Homrig.
"The North Bay was hit the hardest today," said Homrig, who attributed most of the outages to felled trees and power lines. "It was just all the little things that Mother Nature could throw at us."
Travel plans were spoiled at San Francisco's airport, where some flights were delayed by as much as four hours, said spokesman Ron Wilson.
Meanwhile, spinouts and fender-benders littered rain-slicked Bay Area freeways. But the California Highway Patrol reported no major accidents.
"There were a lot of injury accidents and solo spinouts, but nothing too serious," said CHP officer Virgil Aguilar. Between 1 and 4 p.m., 250 vehicle accidents were reported in the Bay Area. Traffic slowed for a while on Highway 4 on Thursday afternoon as startled motorists battled a hailstorm.
And commuter-heavy eastbound Highway 4 in Pittsburg flooded just west of the Railroad Avenue exit, slowing traffic about 4:30 p.m.
Blizzard-like conditions by the evening also closed Interstate 80 from the Sierra Nevada foothills to the Nevada state line. Cars heading toward Reno and Lake Tahoe on I-80 were stopped in Auburn. State police said they closed the highway in both directions from Auburn to the Nevada state line Thursday evening because of whiteouts and accidents.
The force of the wind and rain caught many people by surprise.
In North Richmond, a lightning strike temporarily knocked out power in the 500 block of Gertrude Avenue.
The 1:30 p.m. thunderbolt startled those gathered for the community's beautification committee meeting at the Shields-Reid Community Center, causing one woman to fall out of her chair.
"It sounded almost like a bomb," said Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, who was at the meeting. "We heard the thunder and saw a big flash. We had the rest of our meeting in darkness."
In neighboring Richmond, the area surrounding the railroad tracks at Carson and Cutting boulevards flooded mildly.
Some streets in San Pablo also had minor flooding from clogged storm drains.
Lightning, thunder and bursts of hail punctuated the afternoon, along with rain showers that were so strong one San Pablo woman said she had never seen anything like it in the 23 years she has lived in the city.
"It was just pouring," said Flannery Road resident Diana Pitcher, who got out the video camera to capture the image of heavy garbage cans being pushed down her street by a torrent of water. "We heard rumbling and saw our garbage can disappear down the street and then the other garbage cans followed it," Pitcher said. "My children were belly-rolling as they watched the garbage cans going down the street."
In downtown Walnut Creek, rain flooded a piano store when a drain pipe collapsed. Rainwater squirted through an opening in the ceiling at Music Exchange, 1501 N. Main St., and soaked the floor near the cash register.
Grim employees watched as fire officials used high-powered vacuums to remove the water. "We're going to have to move the pianos if the moisture stays too long, it can do a lot of damage," store manager Theresa Miller said.
Some of the pianos affected by the water were electrical players, which fetch as much as $60,000, she said.
Few weather-related problems were reported in the Tri-Valley on Thursday, though flooding created headaches for motorists trying to merge onto westbound I-580 from southbound I-680. The San Ramon Fire Protection District had to shore up a leaking roof at its offices in the 1500 block of Bollinger Canyon Road.
Contra Costa Newspapers
Jan. 26, 2001
A powerful winter storm, aided by strong gusts of wind, raked the Bay Area on Thursday, knocking down power lines, making highways slick and crowning Mount Diablo with 2 inches of snow.
The steady afternoon deluge, which included hail and lightning, swept through the Bay Area starting about 2 p.m. before heading south to pound the coastline.
It led to scattered power outages, scores of freeway spinouts, partially flooded highways, uprooted trees and lengthy flight delays at San Francisco International Airport.
"It rained hard for a while, but the saving grace was that the cold front started to move out by the late afternoon," said meteorologist Shane Snyder of the National Weather Service.
Forecasters predict more rain today, with a possible thunderstorm. Clouds are expected to decrease tonight.
The weekend will bring clear and sunny skies throughout the East Bay, according to the National Weather Service.
About 3 p.m. Thursday, snow began to fall at Mount Diablo, forcing park rangers to close the park above the ranger station.
A short time later, fierce winds reaching 96 mph swirled over the mountain, said Dave Matthews, a supervising ranger with the East Bay Regional Park District.
"Oddly enough, we had some people eating lunch up in the summit parking lot, even though you couldn't see your feet in front of your face," he said.
The storm, fueled by 50 mph winds in many areas, rocked coastal communities the hardest, dumping about an inch of rain in San Rafael in only a few hours.
It also prompted a heavy surf advisory, with swells expected to reach 21 feet, which will remain in effect today.
About 10,000 Pacific Gas & Electric Co. customers were without power at one point Thursday, said spokeswoman Staci Homrig.
"The North Bay was hit the hardest today," said Homrig, who attributed most of the outages to felled trees and power lines. "It was just all the little things that Mother Nature could throw at us."
Travel plans were spoiled at San Francisco's airport, where some flights were delayed by as much as four hours, said spokesman Ron Wilson.
Meanwhile, spinouts and fender-benders littered rain-slicked Bay Area freeways. But the California Highway Patrol reported no major accidents.
"There were a lot of injury accidents and solo spinouts, but nothing too serious," said CHP officer Virgil Aguilar. Between 1 and 4 p.m., 250 vehicle accidents were reported in the Bay Area. Traffic slowed for a while on Highway 4 on Thursday afternoon as startled motorists battled a hailstorm.
And commuter-heavy eastbound Highway 4 in Pittsburg flooded just west of the Railroad Avenue exit, slowing traffic about 4:30 p.m.
Blizzard-like conditions by the evening also closed Interstate 80 from the Sierra Nevada foothills to the Nevada state line. Cars heading toward Reno and Lake Tahoe on I-80 were stopped in Auburn. State police said they closed the highway in both directions from Auburn to the Nevada state line Thursday evening because of whiteouts and accidents.
The force of the wind and rain caught many people by surprise.
In North Richmond, a lightning strike temporarily knocked out power in the 500 block of Gertrude Avenue.
The 1:30 p.m. thunderbolt startled those gathered for the community's beautification committee meeting at the Shields-Reid Community Center, causing one woman to fall out of her chair.
"It sounded almost like a bomb," said Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, who was at the meeting. "We heard the thunder and saw a big flash. We had the rest of our meeting in darkness."
In neighboring Richmond, the area surrounding the railroad tracks at Carson and Cutting boulevards flooded mildly.
Some streets in San Pablo also had minor flooding from clogged storm drains.
Lightning, thunder and bursts of hail punctuated the afternoon, along with rain showers that were so strong one San Pablo woman said she had never seen anything like it in the 23 years she has lived in the city.
"It was just pouring," said Flannery Road resident Diana Pitcher, who got out the video camera to capture the image of heavy garbage cans being pushed down her street by a torrent of water. "We heard rumbling and saw our garbage can disappear down the street and then the other garbage cans followed it," Pitcher said. "My children were belly-rolling as they watched the garbage cans going down the street."
In downtown Walnut Creek, rain flooded a piano store when a drain pipe collapsed. Rainwater squirted through an opening in the ceiling at Music Exchange, 1501 N. Main St., and soaked the floor near the cash register.
Grim employees watched as fire officials used high-powered vacuums to remove the water. "We're going to have to move the pianos if the moisture stays too long, it can do a lot of damage," store manager Theresa Miller said.
Some of the pianos affected by the water were electrical players, which fetch as much as $60,000, she said.
Few weather-related problems were reported in the Tri-Valley on Thursday, though flooding created headaches for motorists trying to merge onto westbound I-580 from southbound I-680. The San Ramon Fire Protection District had to shore up a leaking roof at its offices in the 1500 block of Bollinger Canyon Road.
posted by Corey at 1:42 PM
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