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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 21 February 2017

Flood warnings issued amid heavy rain in Northern California

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — coming, there is just too
Forecasters issued flash much pressure and levees
flood warnings Monday can break,” Daly said.
throughout the San Fran- “They can be topped.”
cisco Bay Area and else- The Don Pedro reservoir,
where in Northern Califor- which captures water from
nia as downpours swelled the Tuolumne River, a key
creeks and rivers in the al- tributary of the San Joa-
ready soggy region. quin, was at 97 percent
The National Weather Ser- capacity.
vice said heavy rain could The weather service also
persist into the evening and issued flash flood warn-
was expected to cause ings for the North Bay and
flooding on the Carmel Monterey areas as well as
River in Monterey County south-central Alameda
and Coyote Creek in Santa County and southeastern
Clara County. Santa Clara County.
In the San Joaquin Valley, In Alameda County, the
residents were patrolling weather service report-
levees for signs of dan- Members of the Maxwell Fire Department fill sandbags as the town prepares for another storm in ed gauges on Alameda
Maxwell, Calif. Forecasters issued flash flood warnings Monday throughout the San Francisco Bay
ger, reviewing evacuation Area and elsewhere in Northern California as downpours swelled creeks and rivers in the already Creek were showing that
plans and filling hundreds soggy region. rapidly rising water levels
of sand bags as the San (Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP) have surpassed local flood
Joaquin River kept rising. stages in Niles Canyon and
“Our community is pulling The city has logged 24.50 County Office of Emergen- “When the water gets that a watershed above Sunol
together like real champs,” inches of rain since Oct. 1, cy Services. high and more water is Regional Wilderness.q
said San Joaquin River said forecaster Bob Benja-
Club resident Paula Martin, min. The average rainfall
who is helping coordinate for the year ending Sept.
emergency plans for the 30 is 23.65 inches.
private neighborhood of In the mountains, the
800 homes. weather service forecast
Martin said the neighbor- heavy snow in the Lake Ta-
hood has sirens in a club- hoe area with a high ava-
house and church that lanche danger until Tues-
can warn residents of im- day in an area of the Sierra
pending flooding. Nevada from Yuba Pass to
The weather service also Ebbetts Pass.
issued snow and wind ad- Forecasters say the win-
visories, including a flash ter storm could drop up
flood warning for the So- to 5 feet of snow in areas
beranes burn area in Mon- above 7,500 feet while
terey County. lower elevations could see
It said winds could reach between 8 and 24 inches
60 mph in the San Francis- of snow.
co Bay Area. Forecasters advised mo-
Santa Cruz County had torists to avoid travel in the
seen 2.8 inches of rain in 24 area through Tuesday.
hours and could see up to Moderate to heavy rain
8 inches before the storm along with snowmelt be-
passes Tuesday. Marin low 7,000 feet was ex-
County got 2.3 inches of pected to swell rivers and
rain while close to an inch streams and increase the
fell in San Francisco. chance of flooding.
Forecasters said rainfall in The San Joaquin River was
San Francisco has already approaching the top of
surpassed the normal an- levees and could remain
nual amount for the wet at that level for four days,
season that begins in Oc- said Tim Daly, a spokes-
tober. man with the San Joaquin