Winds, heavy rains slam into Bay Area; driver dies in North Bay crash
By Ethan Varian/Bay Area News Group
A high-powered storm barreled into the Bay Area on Saturday morning, bringing treacherous winds and heavy rains that triggered flood advisories and power outages across the region.
In the North Bay, one driver was killed and another suffered major injuries when two vehicles collided on Point Reyes Petaluma Road, the California Highway Patrol said.
CHP Marin Area officers responded to the accident at 1:22 p.m., north of Hicks Valley Road.
The preliminary investigation said that a 2000 Subaru Impreza was traveling south during wet road conditions when the driver lost control, sending the vehicle into the northbound lane and into the path of a 1999 Honda Accord, the CHP said.
The front of the Honda collided with the passenger side of the Subaru. The driver of the Subaru was pronounced dead on the scene. The driver of the Honda sustained major non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to a local hospital. Drugs or alcohol do not appear to be a factor in the collision at this time, the CHP said.
The identity of the drivers was not released.
The National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for parts of Marin, Sonoma and Napa Counties, as well as much of the East Bay, Peninsula and San Jose area. The agency warned of minor flooding in low-lying areas and dangerous flood conditions along highways, streets and underpasses.
By midday, between a half-inch and 2 inches of rain had fallen throughout the Bay Area, according to the weather service.
Powerful wind gusts topped 80 mph in the East Bay hills Saturday morning. At the San Francisco International Airport, gusts reached over 40 mph.
The storm knocked out power to over 11,600 Pacific Gas and Electric Company customers in the Bay Area, according to the utility. More than 8,000 customers were without electricity on the Peninsula. Burlingame, Daly City, San Bruno and South San Francisco were the hardest hit.
The storm blew into the Sierra Nevada, triggering thousands of power outages, closing a mountain highway at Lake Tahoe and prompting an avalanche warning in the backcountry.
The storm is expected to bring as much as 4 feet of snow to the upper elevations around Lake Tahoe by Monday morning, the National Weather Service said.
A 250-mile stretch of the Sierra from north of Reno to south of Yosemite National Park was under a winter storm warning at least until Sunday.
“Travel will be very difficult to impossible with whiteout conditions,” the weather service said in Reno, where rain started falling Saturday.
The U.S. Forest Service issued an avalanche warning for the backcountry in the mountains west of Lake Tahoe where it said “several feet of new snow and strong winds will result in dangerous avalanche conditions.”
A stretch of California Highway 89 was closed due to heavy snow between Tahoe City and South Lake Tahoe, California, the highway patrol said. Interstate 80 between Reno and Sacramento remained open but chains were required on tires for most vehicles.
More than 30,000 customers were without power in the Sacramento area at one point Saturday morning.
About 10 inches of snow already had fallen at Mammoth Mountain ski resort south of Yosemite where more than 10 feet of snow has been recorded since early November.
“It just seems like every week or so, another major storm rolls in,” resort spokeswoman Lauren Burke said.
The storm warning stretches into Sunday for most of the Sierra, and doesn’t expire until Monday around Tahoe.
As much as 18 to 28 inches of snow was forecast through the weekend at lake level, and up to 4 feet at elevations above 7,000 feet with 50 mph winds and gusts up to 100 mph.
The Associated Press and Marin Independent contributed to this report.