{"id":8716479,"date":"2023-01-14T09:27:18","date_gmt":"2023-01-14T17:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/?p=8716479&preview=true&preview_id=8716479"},"modified":"2023-01-15T10:54:24","modified_gmt":"2023-01-15T18:54:24","slug":"floods-and-downed-power-lines-expected-as-another-storm-slams-bay-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2023\/01\/14\/floods-and-downed-power-lines-expected-as-another-storm-slams-bay-area\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay Area storm: Floods strike Saturday, triggering more evacuations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joany Morgan looked at her home in despair, the blue-hued house sitting in a foot of muddy water just across from the historic Felton Covered Bridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Yet again, the San Lorenzo River had crested its banks, triggering a fresh round of evacuations Saturday as another winter storm battered Santa Cruz County.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks awful,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cThere\u2019s so much stuff \u2014 our garbage cans keep coming and going, we\u2019ve got so much debris and mud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan and her family were already staying at a hotel, when the latest evacuation order came down but were hoping authorities would allow them back in their home on Saturday. She remembered nervously monitoring river level gauges online last week, watching as they showed the water level steadily rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI must have fallen asleep,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cAt 5 o\u2019clock I heard the bullhorn \u2014 GET OUT! We took the truck and got out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Joany
Joany Morgan\u2019s home sits in several inches of brown, muddy floodwater Sat. Jan. 14, 2023 after heavy rains from a series of atmospheric river storms swelled the nearby San Lorenzo River above flood stage for the second time in less than a week. (John Woolfolk\/Bay Area News Group) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This weekend\u2019s storm \u2014 the latest in a series of at least seven punishing atmospheric rivers that have slammed the greater Bay Area since late December \u2014 ushered in another spate of dangerous winds, mudslides and flooding across the rain-weary region.<\/p>\n

But relief could be in sight, as the relentless three-week deluge that\u2019s caused an estimated $1 billion in damage and left at least 19 dead statewide was expected to clear for good by Monday afternoon. Drier weather is set to return for most of the rest of the week ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat should probably be that last batch of heavier rain,\u201d said Chris Outler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. \u201cThe brunt of the storm should wrap up after Monday morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Floodwaters
Floodwaters filled a Felton neighborhood in Santa Cruz County for a second time in less than a week after heavy rains from a series of atmospheric river storms swelled the San Lorenzo River above flood stage Sat. Jan. 14, 2023. (John Woolfolk\/Bay Area News Group) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Saturday, nearly 30,000 people across the state were under evacuation orders and warnings. South of San Jose, flooding and mudflows threatened to cut off access to Monterey Peninsula, where officials ordered evacuations near the Carmel River.<\/p>\n

In Santa Cruz County, the swelling San Lorenzo River and Soquel Creek forced evacuations in Rio Del Mar, Soquel Village, Felton Grove and Paradise Park. Officials also urged residents in parts of Watsonville and Aptos to leave immediately.<\/p>\n

But not everyone heeded those calls. San Jose firefighter recruit Roman Bodnarchuk, who has evacuated his second-story apartment next to Soquel Creek twice in the last two weeks, said he didn\u2019t plan to pack his parents into his car and drive to a nearby hotel this time around \u2014 even as more than a foot of water flowed into his backyard Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just expensive for the family of four, and we also have two dogs, just to be evacuated for a few hours,\u201d Bodnarchuk said.<\/p>\n

Bodnarchuk\u2019s parents are Ukrainian refugees who moved into his apartment just four days before the first evacuations in his neighborhood on New Year\u2019s Eve. Since then, Bodnarchuk\u2019s mother has been in and out of the hospital battling a serious bacterial pneumonia infection and the flu.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not processing this whole thing, because I\u2019m more in survival mode,\u201d Bodnarchuk said. \u201cI\u2019ll probably start thinking about this when we have some sunny weather \u2026 because it\u2019s just too much. It\u2019s very overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The Soquel Creek surges causing more than a foot of water to flow into Roman Bodnarchuk and wife Adriana Munoz\u2019s backyard at their second-story apartment of along Soquel Wharf Road in Soquel, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023. Bodnarchuk and other nearby homes have received a third round of evacuation orders. (Courtesy of Adriana Munoz) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Powerful wind gusts topping 45 mph also tore across the region, knocking out power to some 16,000 households Saturday morning, with more than 1,300 customers affected in Santa Clara County and 2,600 in Marin County. It was an improvement, though, over the more than 100,000 households that were without electricity at one point last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven some gusts of 30 to 40 miles per hour have got the potential to cause trees to come down and some power issues,\u201d said National Weather Service meteorologist Colby Goatley. \u201cRoots can\u2019t hold the tree up when everything around them is muddy.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, about an inch of rain was expected to fall across most of the Bay Area by day\u2019s end. That\u2019s in addition to the 8 to 10 inches of precipitation that has already accumulated across the region over the last 19 days.<\/p>\n

During a visit to Merced Saturday afternoon, Gov. Gavin Newsom reflected on the 19 people who have died in the storms in recent weeks. \u201cFor all the focus that is wildfires in the state of California \u2014 just consider the last two years \u2014 we never had anything like that in terms of civilian deaths,\u201d he said. \u201cThese weather events have taken more lives in the last two years than wildfires. That\u2019s how deadly they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Niles
Niles Canyon Road is closed at Old Canyon Road from flooding along the Alameda Creek Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023, in Fremont, Calif. (Photo by Jim Gensheimer) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n