Northern Californians - Have you washed/blown away yet???

[michelem]

Oh my gosh, this weather is CRAZY!!! :eek::eek::eek: Here in Folsom, our wind speed topped out at 57.9mph at 11:35am and we've gotten nearly 4.76 inches of rain since midnight!!! We've got uprooted trees, mudslides, flooding . . . Welcome to January in Northern California . . . this is reminding me of the January before last where it just rained and rained and rained and rained and rained . . .

Luckily Santa Mom gave me some Spinervals for Christmas! :p:D

So, how is the weather elsewhere in N.Ca.???

[mimitabby]

good grief! that's not good! 4" of rain, that's almost a year's worth??

[three]

Public Radio was chatting at length about the storm you guys are getting hit with - I hope everyone is okay.

That's an insane amount of rain you're supposed to be getting. The radio also said the Sierra Nevada area was expected 6-10 feet (yes, FEET) of snow.

Stay inside, warm, and safe.

[KnottedYet]

Trek, BikerZ, Spazz, et al, check in please!

[nic840]

Yeah its been a pretty crazy 24 hours! Creek is overflowing in the back, power off and on all day and the phone is out. Large tree branch took out the lines coming into the house. The phone company can forward your calls to the cell phone but coverage is horrible in my house!!!

So I am cooped up with two crazy kids and two wild dogs! The winds seem to be over for now but they would come in some amazing gusts! You are right about the gusts Michele, they were really high!

Supposed to head to the Bay Area today from Sacramento but that is not going to happen until things slow down a little. Traffic is a nightmare especially heading over the Yolo Causeway.

Hope everyone else is well-

[KnottedYet]

Hang in there, Nic! Is the creek close to your house?

[three]

I heard gusts at the Golden Gate Bridge were measured around 70mph. With all the power outages, I wonder how many TE folks can check-in with us to say they're safe.

...world news is on. Things don't look too good over there - looks like tornado weather and then some. Watch out for the wicked witch...

[maillotpois]

wind gusts the morning were terrifying. we live in a redwood forest and as always there are downed trees everywhere.

PP and the dog and geckos spent day at my SILs. our power has been out all day - the entire town is dark. safeway is dark, and the shelves are emptying, which is super creepy.

our power on the mtn will be out for days, as usual in this sort of situation. we had a generator wired to our power box over the summer and while its ungodly loud it is a relief to have heat, light, food that won't rot in fridge, etc. we're getting pretty good at this - we have to be.

the generator is a necessity for another reason. our home is below the sewer line, and we have a holding tank to pump waste back up. just imagine what happens if that pump is off for a sustained period. :eek:

I love living here, but you make sacrifices. now I just hope that suspicious tree doesn't come down on the house. :rolleyes:

jo? v? snap? z? you guys ok?

EDIT - oh and my ex-biz partner now boss is all miffed because I am not driving over the bridge into SF for a retirement dinner for another former partner. DH is in Sac, both roads home for him (101 in san rafael and richmond bridge) are closed. sorry dude, I need to hold down my fort for the evening. :cool: :mad:

[Brandi]

Trek, BikerZ, Spazz, et al, check in please!
You forgot me!
I am central coast though. We have over 35 mph wind gust here. And steady rain, almost 2 inch today. But the nor Cal gals started their rain yesterday! Keep those flashlights on hand! We have had 2 brown outs. Black out soon to follow I am sure!

[Trek420]

I'm safely tucked away in an office. I hear power is out on the Peninsula. It was raining hard this morning. Mae the wonder dog would not go out without me so I took her on a short walk. Lots of tree limbs are down but no huge damage.

I got to try out my new Ibex Breakaway cyling jacket :) Nice and toasty warm.

Note: both these in the East Bay

[shadon]

I don't post often, but we're hanging in here. The groomer cancelled Marcellus the cat's grooming appointment this morning. It looks like the rain has let up for a bit, here in the Mission District of San Francisco. It's been brutal! And the rain axed my morning ride!
I just had a professional bike fit and I wanna ride!

[velogirl]

what a day! how can you flood a second floor condo? the drain on the courtyard clogs up (we're over the garage so I guess technically we're 1st floor although 10 feet off the ground). I had 4" of water on my patio right up to the door. power on & off all day. puppy is moping and won't eat or go outside. and my potted trees keep blowing over.

Nic, we were supposed to race a duathlon in Sac tomorrow and decided to bail.....


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Here's the damage that I know of:

-- All ferry and bus service on the Golden Gate Transit system is suspended. Bus service is resuming on a very limited basis, ferry service for all should be back in action come the afternoon.

-- The Alameda Bay Harbor Ferry and the Alameda/Oakland Ferry are shut down.

-- BART is not running between 24th Street in San Francisco and Daly City.

-- Highway 101 in San Rafael is closed in both directions until at least 10 p.m.

-- The Richmond San Rafael Bridge remains closed.

-- Two lanes are closed on the Golden Gate Bridge.

-- Flights in and out of San Francisco International Airport are delayed and canceled.

-- Highway 1 is closed from Stinson Beach to the Bolinas turnoff because of flooding.

-- The MacArthur Tunnel approach to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is closed because of flooding.

-- The Great Highway in San Francisco is closed in both directions, from Sloat Boulevard to Lincoln Way, due to high winds.

-- Northbound State Route 17 in Santa Clara County is closed.

-- Route 84 in Alameda County is closed in both directions in Niles Canyon because of a slide.

-- More than 518,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers are without power in the region.

-- San Francisco Municipal Railway is deluged by delays and has shutdown the F-line streetcar.

-- The San Francisco Zoo is closed because of downed trees that pose a potential escape risk with animals

-- Hundreds of thousands of homes are without power.

[bikerz]

It was WILD at my place in the Oakland hills last night - crazy wind, tons of rain, gutters can't even begin to keep up. The front door is down a flight of steps and the entry way is poorly drained - I was afraid it would flood into the house, but it stayed just below the threshold, then slowly drained away.

I drove to BART and had to slowly drive through pretty deep water from time to time on my way. Today downtown in the city (SF) it's not been so bad, and I'm getting ready to head home soon.

A friend of mine who commutes from Sonoma to Oakland is stranded and will stay with me over tonight - all routes north are closed and would be too dangerous or crazy to try. As far as I know there is still power at my house.

Whew!

[Brandi]

Ahhhhhhh we have a leak! Only a 3 year old roof too! Oh well can be fixed!

[KnottedYet]

You forgot me!

"et al" sort of means "and everybody"... basically I was taking a short cut and not listing off everyone. Cuz I'm lazy.:o

Thinking of you all, hang in there!

[Brandi]

"et al" sort of means "and everybody"... basically I was taking a short cut and not listing off everyone. Cuz I'm lazy.:o

Thinking of you all, hang in there!
I am just poking you! Like on face book.

[froglegs]

It's pretty rainy and windy here on the central coast, it was a struggle just to get to my bus stop half a block away from my building, since the sidewalk and street were covered with rushing water. Now I am home and dry and things seem pretty calm, just rainy with occasional big gusts of wind. My poor cat is still out there somewhere, I hope he found a dry place to hide.

[melissam]

So far the fair town of Alviso hasn't flooded. :eek: Where's Alviso, you might ask? (Don't worry, everyone asks, even the long term Bay Area folks.) Alviso is right at the tip of the SF Bay, and is in prime flood zone.

Meanwhile, at my house in the east foothills of San Jose, all of our apricot trees are still standing...

[sundial]

Oh gosh, I feel for you guys! I was looking at weather.com and it looked like a hurricane was headed your way. I'm sending positive vibes that you all will be safe and sound. And your furkids and skinkids as well.

We're going to get that nasty weather by Monday. Our winds will be at least 35 mph and our temps will rise to 65 degrees (from the teens and 20's currently). :eek:

[snapdragen]

I've been watching a tree in front all afternoon, it's about to drop a huge limb on the street. I fear this is the end for the 40+ year old ash tree, it will only have one limb left.

My brother is in El Granada, his town and Half Moon Bay are dark, something about a main power line near Crystal Springs.

I ventured out for milk this afternoon, took me an hour. The local Safeway was without power, Walgreens next door had a generator, but had run out of milk. My lights have flickered a couple times, but the power has stayed on all day. There was a shot of the Guadalupe River on the news, pretty full, but not flooding.

[Veronica]

Fairly uneventful here in the delta. I drove to Walnut Creek this morning for a hair appointment. The drive out was a bit scary, the drive back not so bad.

We finished the flooring in the family room about twenty minutes ago. It looks great, but man are we both pooped!

V.

[Resumer]

Here in Healdsburg, we got 6.5 inches of rain between last night and mid-day today. It was wild, between the relentless heavy downpour and the winds, didn't sleep much. It happened to be trash pickup day today so natch, the bins outside blew around, over, and filled with water. Did one run out into it for myself and my 84 year old next door neighbor at 6am to right the bins so they could be picked up and then again later in the morning. Same neighbor had a very large tree downed, safely so (without taking anything else down with it) and the power flickered many times, but luckily stayed on.

It was sooooo quiet here, not a car drove down my street all day (very unusual) so most folks were indoors, I expect, especially since kids don't go back to school till Monday. It's eerily calm now, but the next waves are coming!

The Russian River is GORGED with water...it's astounding to see. Very rapid moving water with tons of tree limbs and where it routes through Healdsburg is a pretty wide area to accommodate that flow, high tho it was. I can't imagine how things are in Guerneville and farther downstream. This will be a good weekend to stay put, for sure!

Can you say climate change? I know you can! :rolleyes:

[kjay]

All's well here. Am on the Peninsula and no power outage so far. Thank heavens for spinning classes.

[Trek420]

We finished the flooring in the family room about twenty minutes ago. It looks great, but man are we both pooped!

V.

Sorry for the hijack Nor Cal thread: we want pictures when your feet don't hurt. Arrived home to find that the carpenter gal has torn out my 70's disgusting flooring :D Progress being made.

Give me hope that things can look better, let's see pictures. :)

[aka_kim]

Pretty uneventful here in Concord. We fortunately never lost power. About 2.5 inches of rain with gusts to 45mph. And my semi-feral cat is still outside refusing to come in. :(

[salsabike]

You GUYS. Please be careful (like you need me to tell you that or you wouldn't). Thanks for checking in.

[xeney]

It's really crazy here and I was glad I didn't have to leave the house yesterday. I did go for a walk in the late afternoon when the rain and wind stopped, and there were four huge trees down within about six blocks of my house. A large sycamore is blocking our street at the end of the block, and a big elm around the corner came up by the roots and completely destroyed a house. The people were moving out when I walked by and they looked so shell-shocked and sad.

My photo is blurry because I didn't want to use the flash, but this is what it looks like when a tree comes through your house:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2027/2167762208_5546cca3e6.jpg?v=0

I've lived in downtown Sacramento since 1992 and I've never seen storm damage this bad. I've seen trees uprooted, cars smashed, etc., but never so many all at once. We are feeling very good about the $2000 or so we spent to have an arborist evaluate and prune our trees this spring.

[sundial]

Holy moly!!! :eek::eek:

[roadie gal]

I'm in Truckee, near Lake Tahoe, where all of those wild snow pictures on the TV are coming from. The power went on and off about 5 times yesterday. The wind was WILD. There were gusts that shook the house.

We got at least 2-3 feet of snow and it's still coming down. I can't tell where my driveway is. We have manzanita bushes behind the house. They're about 4 feet tall. Right now it looks like a meadow. The bushes are completely covered.

Interstate 80 has been closed over a 50 mile stretch for over 12 hours!

[Brandi]

I was just about to post again on this thread last night about how I had to correct the air speed I had posted earlier. We have had up to 75 mph not 35. But right when I went to go to the site my power went out.
My hubby and Idrank hot chocolate and enjoyed the dark and quite!

[maillotpois]

I'm in Truckee, near Lake Tahoe, where all of those wild snow pictures on the TV are coming from.

what TV? :D

we won't have cable/internet access for who know how long.

I can't imagine how much snow you guys must have in truckee.

[jobob]

Almost embarassed to say, we're fine in Union City. :o No power out yet, nothing's tipped over on us yet.

[snapdragen]

I wish I'd taken a snapshot of the wind patterns yesterday.

http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/wind/windbin.cgi

You couldn't see where land and water ended, there were so many large red and orange arrows.

[roadie gal]

Those winds yesterday were crazy!

We had a weather pattern going on yesterday morning that I've only seen here. I live at right about 6700 feet. Yesterday that was right at the rain/snow transition zone. It was raining, then a few seconds later it was snow, then it was snow out the back window and rain out the front, then it reversed... wild. You could just see those little isobars dancing!

[velogirl]

ooh! thunder and lightening now. in my decade in CA I only remember thunder and lightening two other times. I grew up in NY and it was commonplace, but it freaks me out a little now.

[Trek420]

Velogirl, you must have just got ours from the East Bay. :p

It's still raining here though not as hard. Earlier we had quite the T-storm. My poor dog was shivering. Speaking of dog I need to (carefully) go forage for dog food, batteries for the remote, outa milk, a few things. All of this quite nearby, normally I'd ride. Hope you'll forgive the wheeniedom if I drive, it's pretty wet out there and my bikes are tarped upstairs to keep the remodel dust off.

[mimitabby]

Trek! stay warm and dry! I really really understand.

[bmccasland]

Xeney - how are the levees holding up? After Katrina, I found out that the two cities most likely to flood were Sacramento and New Orleans - for poor maintenance of the levees by the locals. Corps builds them, but it's up to the locals to maintain them, and Congress to fund the big maintenance jobs. Which we all know they didn't for us in N.O. (they are now). I hope Congress sent some $$ your way too, I know some of the river levees were in sore need of repair. Back in the gold rush days, beautiful downtown Sac would regularly flood in the winter. In fact the Yolo Bypass was constructed to help this out.

Hope all y'all out west in that storm system are holding up, and staying dry. On the other hand, the snow pack will mean more water in the summer. Not sure if it's a drought buster yet. One good storm does not fill reservoirs.

[Trek420]

Xeney - how are the levees holding up? After Katrina, I found out that the two cities most likely to flood were Sacramento and New Orleans - for poor maintenance of the levees by the locals. Corps builds them, but it's up to the locals to maintain them, and Congress to fund the big maintenance jobs. Which we all know they didn't for us in N.O. (they are now). I hope Congress sent some $$ your way too, I know some of the river levees were in sore need of repair. Back in the gold rush days, beautiful downtown Sac would regularly flood in the winter. In fact the Yolo Bypass was constructed to help this out.

I'm a CA native and did not know till recently that back in the day the entire central valley both North and South was wetlands.

If you'd have come up and over the Sierra Nevada and looked down into what is now one of the richest agricultural areas in the US before we (I say we, though I'm 1st and 2nd generation American respectively) messed it up, uh I mean settled it you'd have seen a vast wetland including territory for migratory birds etc.

www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/na/na0801_full.html

That's a lot of water to hold back. :rolleyes:

Some is diverted to agricultural use, some goes to So. Cal but between development encroaching on wetlands and the deteriorating levee system it's a huge problem. All we need is a major quake and .... :rolleyes:

[xeney]

Yeah, since Katrina we've had major levee work either happening or being fought over. (Mostly the latter -- it's levee safety versus environmental/ecosystem concerns -- I believe the issue is that the feds don't think you need both but the state would like to protect the ecosystems along the rivers.)

There was a levee break up in Nevada but as far as I know everything is fine down here with only local flooding. My particular area is pretty safe ... we are right by the American River, but floods there are controlled by the Folsom Dam, so there would have to be a really catastrophic failure to affect us, and we would have some warning. (Recent federal redistricting actually resulted in us not being required to carry flood insurance at all even though we are spitting distance from the river, although of course we still do carry it.)

But before the dam our house was in the middle of a flood plain. We have a "highwater bungalow" -- it's a 1914 Craftsman bungalow with a full-story above-ground basement that was designed to flood in the winter.

[bmccasland]

Xeney - our foreparents were right to build raised basement places, structures that were built to withstand periodic flooding. Here's hoping you remain dry! And yes, oh by-gawd yes, keep that flood insurance!! People here are still battling with their insurance - basically if it involves a flood, homeowners doesn't want to cover it - even if you had roof damage! Insurance is in the business to make money for their stock holders first, then provide a service to those of us who actually pays for the policies. So if they can find a way out of paying, they will.

Fortunately after Katrina, my house didn't flood, so I only filed a homeowner's claim. Then a year later I get a statement from FEMA indicating a flood claim was filed on my home, to the tune of $45K. Took me a few months to clear that up!

Have they said anything to how this storm system will help the snowpack? Or is it too early to tell?

[maillotpois]

We're still without power and PG&E won't even give an estimate as to when it will be back on. Thank heaven for the generator. That was a great investment. We don't run it through the night as it is a bit loud. But it keeps things somewhat sane (still no internet or cable access yet).

I'm at our in law's right now. They're up a different canyon than the one we live in. They've had power for 2 days. :rolleyes:

[jobob]

There's snow in the East Bay hills. :cool:

I snagged this image off the Mt. Hamilton HamCam (http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/hamcam/) website.

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/jobob22/stuff/Cam2_ts.jpg

[Trek420]

Oh, you did not ride up there and snag that shot for us? There's supposed to be another storm rolling in :cool: :o

[Brandi]

Hey guess what????? It's raining again!:D I still have a leak in my roof.

[jobob]

Oh, you did not ride up there and snag that shot for us?
Hee hee, nope. :D

[SadieKate]

That's cuz I know she wants to ride with me here ---

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b310/SadieKate/The%20Lodge/IMG_0761.jpg

About 11" since Friday evening and a couple more each night for the next couple. Even our long time local resident neighbor sheepishly admitted we no longer were having a "mild" winter. But, yippee!, Bubba found my snowshoes this morning. Halleluyeah!

I'm thinking of you guys. Hang in there.

[michelem]

Our poor "Welcome to Folsom" sign got hit by the storm. :( The second photo was taken around the bend from my office - don't know if the person driving was injured. Lots of uprooted trees and downed fences, but thankfully our house was spared any damage. Guess we got our dose when we lived in AZ and a microburst downed a power pole and lines on our house. That was NOT fun! :eek:

[maillotpois]

wow - great photos!!

we have cable but still no power. last night about 8 a couple of "subcontractors for PG&E" brought up from san diego knocked on our door wanting to quickly check our generator installation (if they're not installed right, they can provide power back up the line, injuring workers. our is done right.) they said no guarantees about when power would come back on. oh well. it's an adventure of sorts.

I wonder if solar could ever really take you off the grid. I don't think it can.

[roadie gal]

We've got a big solar array behind the house. The panels are covered with ice and snow. I tried to knock some of it off, but it's frozen in place, so no solar for us until it melts. Normally, it does cover quite a bit of our electric needs, though.

[sundial]

I'm sick of this wind!!!

I'm ready to have normal temps and winds again--not 37 mph stuff in January. It seems like we are having our March winds a little early.

[KnottedYet]

I wonder if solar could ever really take you off the grid. I don't think it can.

My uncle lives in a 5 bedroom house he built 30 years ago in the midwest, where it isn't all that sunny and it is quite cold. That house has never been on the grid. The whole thing runs on 2 solar panels the size of a queen bed, and a little windmill.

When the power goes out, all the neighbors know to come to his place for warmth, food, and showers.

He built some really cool stuff into that house.

[maillotpois]

Knot that sounds ideal. I don't think anywhere closer to civilization can you really take yourself off the grid with solar these days, though. It's all on the credit system.

Well, we got our power back yesterday. So it was only out for four days. Not too bad, all things considered. Makes me remember how much we take for granted here.

[RoadRaven]

I have been lurking at the edge of this thread and just wanted to say I am thinking of you all.

The accounts and pix in this thread have been fascinatingly scarey - or is that scarily fascinating...?

Just trusting the weather will setlle itself down real soon and you can have some "breeze free" days and no more power losses...

[Trek420]

Knot that sounds ideal. I don't think anywhere closer to civilization can you really take yourself off the grid with solar these days, though. It's all on the credit system.

My brother installed solar but without a storage system. So when the sun's out the meter runs backwards or at least steady.

It would have been more costly to have power over their daily needs in a battery back up. As it is now if the power is out & it's night/dark they are out of juice. This happened recently while their band was rehearsing, they had to switch to acoustic. ;)

But with a storage system .... you're off the grid and at times like this that would be a good idea. :)

[roadie gal]

That's what we have, too. It would have added another $15,000 to the cost to put in battery backup.

Our meter runs backwards when we create more energy than we use. The local PUD credits us the wattage and then subtracts when we use more than we make (usually in the winter). Generally, we only pay for electricity about 6 months out of the year.

[maillotpois]

Total TD, but this is interesting. I wonder with the battery back up if you have to flip a switch when the power goes out so you don't send power back up the lines.

$15,000 for the back up?? Yowza! :eek:

[Trek420]

Total TD, but this is interesting. I wonder with the battery back up if you have to flip a switch when the power goes out so you don't send power back up the lines.

$15,000 for the back up?? Yowza! :eek:

1) I don't know but would think it's automatic :o anyone?

2) Yes it's high but if you're in a home you plan to be in for a long time this may still be worth it. I understand there are some hefty rebates and tax credits now. And if you sell the house this is an improvement you usually get back in the price of the home.

[roadie gal]

My understanding was that it would be automatic.

I couldn't swing the extra $15,000 for battery backup. What I have now is a 12 panel array on a pole. The array turns to follow the sun so we get the most out of it. I couldn't put panels on the roof because there were no snow load rated roof panels 3 years ago when I put up the array. As you might imagine, this was a pretty expensive outlay on its own.

The feds rebated $2000. California was supposed to give some rebate, but it didn't go through. I think it's by individual PUDs and mine doesn't do it.

We were the first people in the service area to create more electricity than we used. It threw the whole PUD into a tizzy. It took about 6 months for us to work out this credit system.

[maillotpois]

roadie I think what you guys have set up sounds great. Ultimately if you decided to, you could probably install the back up later - and maybe the technology would be less $ by then, etc. I wish we could do solar. We have so many trees I doubt we could - assuming our house was structurally able to support it... :rolleyes: