A storm fueled in part by a typhoon hit California's border with Oregon Saturday with heavy rain and gusty winds as it made its way south.
Aside from the slick roadways and patches of standing water around the Bay Area, public safety officials have kept a watchful eye on the unstable landscape in the Santa Cruz Mountains that was recently charred by the Loma Fire.
A flash flood watch has been issued for the Santa Cruz Mountains and Big Sur area – which was devastated by the Soberanes Fire – through 11 p.m. Sunday due to potential debris flows.
Especially vulnerable are fire-damaged areas, where the land is at risk of erosion.
Patty Eaton, a spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, said the massive Loma Fire that was fully controlled Wednesday left 1,500 acres of stumps and dead trees. But she said there was no time to do erosion control work and this could lead to problems of clogged pipes.
Ed Orre, a Cal Fire Division Chief, added that roughly 20 homes could be impacted by a potential mudslide, but he believes that the worst can be prevented if residents listen to warnings and prepare accordingly.
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"Be prepared to leave at a very short notice," Orre said. "Stock up on supplies. You may be trapped behind a bridge or culvert that fails."
In surrounding Bay Area locations, wind caused flight headaches and interrupted a popular Bay Area music festival.
A wind advisory was issued by the National Weather Service for the North and East Bay hills, the North Bay coast, San Francisco and the Peninsula coast from 2 p.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday.
Those blustery conditions prompted 52 cancellations and over 200 delays at San Francisco International Airport Saturday. Oakland International Airport reported one cancellation and three delays as of 10:00 p.m. while Mineta San Jose International Airport announced a lone cancellation.
Back near San Francisco, concertgoers had to deal with a damp Treasure Island Music Festival during the afternoon and early evening hours. Rain caused some performances to be delayed and high winds closed a pier, which shut down use of a Ferris wheel and forced some vendors to move.
Some fans decided to brave the elements, while others packed their bags and headed for home.
"Obviously, the weather is uncontrollable so we can't do too much about it, but I think we made the best out of it so, at the end of the day, everyone had fun," Hoyi Yeung from Union City said.
About 8,300 Bay Area Pacific Gas and Electric customers had lost power at 9 p.m. Friday, including almost 7,000 in the East Bay, PG&E officials said. By 4:30 p.m. Saturday, that number was down to roughly 2,800 people without power in the Bay Area, with 2,317 residing in the East Bay. Roughly five hours later, PG&E reported that those numbers remained much the same into the Saturday night hours.
NWS officials forecast as much as 0.82 inches of rain in Sonoma County and 0.65 inches in Santa Cruz County by 5 a.m. Sunday.
Sunday rain predictions include 1.49 inches of rain in Santa Cruz County, 0.84 inches in Sonoma County and 0.69 inches in San Mateo County.
Saturday's rain followed a potent weather system that walloped the Bay Area on Friday, knocking out power, flooding roads and delaying flights.
"These storms have been enhanced by the moisture of the typhoon," said National Weather Service meteorologist Matthew Kidwell, referring to Typhoon Songda, which wreaked havoc in the western Pacific days ago.
Wind and rain can create hazardous driving conditions. By 4 p.m. Friday, California Highway Patrol officers in Marin had received about 55 reports of traffic collisions, mostly due to the wet conditions, officials said.
Drivers should reduce their speed, avoid sudden lane changes and maintain enough space around their vehicles in wet conditions, CHP officers said.
It's too early to tell if California, now on a 6-year drought, will see a wet winter.
