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Menlo Park issued a shelter-in-place alert after flash flooding on Hamilton and Carlton avenues early Christmas Eve morning. The flooded areas were closed to traffic throughout the morning and for much of the afternoon.
Menlo Park police said at about 3 p.m. that the street had been reopened.
The flood alert was sent around 5:20 a.m. Wednesday for the 1300 block of Hamilton Avenue and Carlton Avenue from Willow Road from the Menlo Park Police Department. The department later updated that only Hamilton Avenue between Willow Road and Henderson Avenue remains closed.
Police warned drivers to stay away and not to go around barricades or attempt to travel on closed roads, saying driving into flooded areas is extremely dangerous and could result in serious injury or death.
Menlo Park and the West Bay Sanitary District were working to clear drains on the road. Residents were asked to call 911 only for life-threatening emergencies or if evacuation is needed. Much of the flooding had been resolved by 12:30 p.m. though the street closure remained in place for several hours after that, according to the police.
The city first warned of flooding in the area at 4:20 a.m. but upgraded the alert to a shelter-in-place warning about an hour later. At 9:45 a.m., the city said no evacuations were needed but continued to ask residents to avoid the area.
The department advised residents to sign up for emergency alerts at menlopark.gov/smcalerts.
The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for parts of California, including Menlo Park, through Friday evening. A wind advisory is also in effect from 8 p.m. Dec. 24 to 10 a.m. Dec. 25.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Palo Alto received 0.28 inches of rain in the past six hours. NOAA does not have rainfall data available for Menlo Park.
Across San Mateo County, some residents were without power on Christmas Eve. According to PG&E, 5,885 customers across 83 outages in the county were without electricity. About 4,000 of the affected customers are in unincorporated San Mateo County, including an outage affecting the Half Moon Bay Airport.
PG&E previously reported that 48 customers in a largely commercial area of Bohannon Drive were without power due to the storm but the issue appears to be resolved.
Hope all of the families affected are safe and there is minimum to no lasting damage that was done.
My friend who live on the Alameda got alert for this flooding and I live in the Willows and didn’t get anything. Are there additional alerts to sign up for? I ride my bicycle over where the flooding happened and it would’ve been nice to know.
Additionally, seems like San Mateo county one Shoreline project has grossly overlooked Menlo Park and additional attention would be much appreciated.