As we are getting hit with another round of storms, Mother Nature is reminding us of her powerful force.
Emergency crews were called to the Fruitvale Healthcare Center in Oakland Tuesday morning where a tree smashed down onto a car. A woman inside the car was taken away from the scene in an ambulance.
Not long after that call, crews were summoned to help a homeowner with a toppled tree in the Diamond Park neighborhood. The homeowner told our crew she heard something going on outside but she just thought it was a gutter that had fallen from the house. Instead, she found a large chunk of a laurel tree that broke away. It knocked down a fence and nicked her car, just leaving a fist-sized dent behind. The homeowner said she recently had her trees inspected and they checked out okay.
Crews are likely to be busy with multiple toppled tree calls over the next few days as rain and wind move through the Bay Area, adding to already-saturated ground from storms earlier this year. Older trees are more at risk, as their root systems are weaker. Wind makes the situation even worse, turning full tree branches into parachutes.
NBC Bay Area meteorologist Rob Mayeda tells us heavy, widespread rain will move through the Bay Area until about noon today. Showers and isolated thunderstorms will be around through the evening commute. The rain could prompt some flash flooding.
A colder system is headed our way Wednesday that will bring hail and heavier showers. Snow will fall as low as 3,000 feet -- just enough to leave a light dusting on some Bay Area peaks including Mount Hamilton, Mount Diablo and Mount Umunhum.
Moaning and groaning over the rain? Don't be so sad. The silver lining to all the wetness is that we are inching further from a dreaded drought. The region is now listed as abnormally dry -- the last stage in climbing out of the drought designation.
