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The National Weather Service issued flood and wind advisories for the Bay Area, which is seeing widespread power outages from downed trees and power lines this week. About 19,050 customers were without power on the Peninsula as of 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 10.
At 11 a.m. Tuesday, the town of Portola Valley reported flooding on Los Trancos Creek in unincorporated San Mateo County. The emergency access gate at Los Trancos/Valley Oak was opened for the Vista Verde and Los Trancos Woods neighborhoods.
About 1,600 customers were without power in Portola Valley and Woodside Tuesday morning. PG&E doesn’t have an estimated time of restoration. Portola Valley set up a device charging station for residents Tuesday morning and the town’s library was closed until further notice, town officials said.
In Menlo Park, Rich Wipfler reported that overnight, winds felled a tree on Johnson Avenue near Santa Cruz Avenue, leaving 150 customers without power since 2 a.m., adding that a PGE safety crew was at site as of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
A wind advisory is in effect from 10 p.m. Monday to 4 p.m. Tuesday due to winds ranging between 25 mph and 35 mph, with gusts up to 60 mph are expected in the valley locations.
The rain tapered off by Monday afternoon. A flood advisory was issued through 7 p.m. Monday. More rain started to pour late Monday night into Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
The city of Menlo Park announced Tuesday morning that, despite the continuing rain, the flood risk on the San Francisquito Creek and Atherton Channel was expected to remain low all day.
Due to a power outage Tuesday morning, the Belle Haven Child Development Center in Menlo Park will be closed all day and hopes to reopen Wednesday, Jan. 11, the city announced. Parents were notified to pick up their children.
About 20 teaching and learning spaces were impacted by flooding and subsequent damage at Las Lomitas Elementary School in Atherton over the last week, according to Superintendent Beth Polito.
“It’s been a wild week,” Polito said in a Tuesday email. “Our modernization contractor XL and insurance subcontractor Balfour have done an amazing job moving classrooms and repairing spaces in an incredibly short turn-around time.”
Polito said that with their help, students and staff were able to return to school as planned on Monday, Jan. 9. “A big shout out to our site and district staff who lived and breathed this project for the last seven days,” she added.
Monday’s weather comes after a windy and wet weekend in the Bay Area. The National Weather Service forecasted a “significant” storm system that began on Saturday afternoon on the Midpeninsula and lasted through Sunday. A second, bigger storm will come in early Monday and leave on Tuesday.
As with the Jan. 4 storm, windy conditions are expected over the next several days. The agency issued what it called a “minor” wind advisory for 10 a.m. Saturday to 1 p.m. Sunday, for the entire Bay Area. South winds were predicted to be 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 50 mph.
The National Weather Service issued flood and wind advisories for the Bay Area, which is expected to see widespread power outages from downed trees and power lines this week.
Along the Midpeninsula, modest rain was predicted for the earlier part of Saturday, with rainfall totals for Mountain View, Palo Alto and Redwood City expected to be between a tenth and quarter of an inch, while Menlo Park to Portola Valley was expected to see between a quarter and half of an inch of precipitation. Wind gusts were forecasted to reach 34 mph on the Midpeninsula, with speeds as high as 39 mph in Portola Valley and Woodside.
The weather service said the rain would turn into showers and possibly a thunderstorm Saturday evening, mainly after 11 p.m., according to the weather bureau. Rainfall was estimated to amount to between a half and three quarters of an inch locally, with up to an inch possible in Portola Valley and Woodside. Windspeeds were expected increase, with gusts reaching 46 mph in the two westernmost towns.
On Sunday, the overnight rain will turn into a 50% to 60% chance of showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 4 p.m., according to the weather service. Windspeeds will die down to the single digits, with no gusts.
Winds were expected to pick up again on Saturday, with gusts returning and in the range of 32-34 mph for the Midpeninsula. A chance of precipitation, mainly after 11 p.m., was estimated to be around 90%. NWS meteorologists predicted the rain to be heavy at times. Rainfall was expected to be between a half and three quarters of an inch from Mountain View to Redwood City, and up to 1 to 2 inches in Portola Valley and Woodside.
More information on storm conditions will be available at the following websites.
• To check PG&E outages, go to its outage center webpage.
• To check the city of Palo Alto Utilities outages, go to the Utilities outage map.
• To sign up for emergency alerts in Santa Clara County, go to emergencymanagement.sccgov.org/AlertSCC.
• To sign up for emergency alerts for Palo Alto, go to local.nixle.com/palo-alto-police-department/. For storm updates and information, go to cityofpaloalto.org/News-Articles/City-Manager/flooding-alert.
• To sign up for emergency alerts in San Mateo County, go to https://hsd.smcsheriff.com/smcalert.
• To see the latest public safety incidents in San Mateo County, including Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, Woodside and Redwood City, go to Zonehaven at https://aware.zonehaven.com/search.
• To find the latest storm information and resources for East Palo Alto, go to ci.east-palo-alto.ca.us/community-resources/page/storm-information-and-resources.
• To view the National Weather Service’s Bay Area weather forecast, go to weather.gov/mtr.
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