Flood Warnings and Watches: Mud, Rocks, Ponding

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings and watches on Wednesday from Sonoma to Santa Clara, from San Mateo and to Santa Cruz. The rain caused havoc for early morning commuters, but replenished drought-stricken reservoirs thirsty for water.

In all, there were 11 weather alerts issued for as many counties throughout the Bay Area.

And highways were flooded throughout the region. In the Santa Cruz mountains, mud, rocks and ponding were in full force. Before 6 a.m. crews were out clearing a tree blocking Idyllwild onramp onto Highway 17. A tree also fell in a San Francisco neighborhood at Sacramento and Octavia streets.

Flooding shut down portions of state Route 12 and state route 121 in Sonoma County. One unlucky motorist became trapped in a makeshift lake that formed on a two-lane road. And an accident on southbound Interstate Highway 880 at W. Tennyson Road in Hayward blocked several lanes. Another accident tied up traffic in San Francisco at Cesar Chavez.

The driver of a Mercedes-Benz sedan on Wednesday tried to make her way past a makeshift lake that formed on a two-lane road in the North Bay, but she failed and became stuck, Jim Lemons from the California Highway Patrol said.

Though the rain was not good for commuters, the wet weather was great for South Bay reservoirs. The Vasona Reservoir was at 82 percent capacity Wednesday morning.

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