Trees are down throughout the region, the San Anselmo and Fairfax creeks have been overflowing, and the wind this morning was strong enough to knock over a big rig on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge just before dawn, blocking both eastbound lanes.
Pacific Gas and Electric has also been handling multiple power outages across the county, affecting 77 customers in San Rafael; 105 customers in Fairfax; 198 in Ross Valley; 242 in Mill Valley and 53 in Strawberry.
In Novato, pockets of flooding created hassles in several neighborhoods and there were a few trees down, but there weren't any reports of widespread power outages, according to Novato Fire District Battalion Chief Jeff Veliquette. He said large puddles and localized flooding were reported in the Pacheco Valle neighorhood, near Simmons Lane and Novato Boulevard and in the area of southbound Highway 101 at South Novato Boulevard.
"We fared pretty well and I think it has kind of passed now," Veliquette said after the morning rain subsided. "Our concern is high tide, which is supposed to be at 2 p.m. Novato Creek is just not draining (into the bay) right now, so that means it backs up at Rowland and pushes the level up in the creek."
City maintenance supervisor Joe Stene said about a dozen people were called in to work early Sunday, including a backhoe operator to deal with a problem on Arroyo Avichi, which feeds into Novato Creek behind Pini Hardware. Mostly the crews just dealt with storm drain clearance and some downed trees, he said. There was some significant flooding on Kelly Drive in Hamilton, he added.
In Mill Valley, police, fire and DPW crews were out in full force at 5 a.m. handling flooding in the usual areas at Sycamore and Camino Alto, Miller Ave. E. Blithedale Ave. and Redwood Highway. Water levels were particularly high in front of Goodman's, said Mill Valley Fire Department Battalion Chief Tom Welch.
"It was up to the building," he said. "It got into the sandbags for sure."
The city used the telephone emergency notfication system to alert residents in the flood zone, and closely monitored local creeks and a a 5 1/2 foot high tide around 10:30 a.m.
"It didn't get up to flooding stages," Welch said.
Mill Valley Police Srgt. Mike Lane said the high winds caused a lot of fallen tree branches and a few downed electrical lines that caused power outages. PG&E was fixing the last of it on Greenwood Way just before noon.
In San Anselmo and Fairfax, the San Anselmo Creek was close to 13 feet around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. It had lowered to 10 feet by 9:30 a.m.
Fairfax Creek peaked at 9 feet around 8 a.m. on Sunday morning. The Ross Valley Fire Department lists the creek’s critical level as 7.2 feet. The water level was closer to 6 feet by 8:45 a.m. and less than 5 feet by 9:30 p.m.
In San Rafael, "a huge amount of rain kind of overpowered the infrastructure," said San Rafael Fire Department Battalion Chief Jeffrey Buscher. Las Gallinas Creek overflowed, shutting down Freitas Parkway between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. There were also a few trees down and some power outages, along with a few minor car accidents. Once the wind and rain stopped, everything calmed down, Buscher said.
San Rafael did, however, get a bunch of calls from people who had the potential for damage, but didn't necessarily need assistance.
"Our communications center was just slammed with phone calls," he said. "People were kind of panicking."
With so much volume it was difficutl to prioritize, but the center did an amazing job sorting through it all, he said.
"They're really the unsung heros," Buscher said.
How you've been handling all this wet weather? Upload your photos of the storm, and let us know what you've been dealing with in the comment section.
