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The New Year was off to a sunny, dry start after a record-setting “atmospheric river” storm pummeled the Bay Area on Saturday — closing roadways, trapping drivers, forcing some evacuations and overwhelming local creeks.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Dial Hoang described the entire Bay Area as “basically a mess” during Saturday’s storm.
“There were numerous reports of flooding,” he said. “And numerous reports of trees coming down.”
Sunday’s weather is expected to stay calm with high temperatures in the 50s, according to the NWS. A flood watch issued Saturday was lifted.
Downtown San Francisco recorded its second-wettest day in 173 years with 5.46 inches of rainfall Saturday, which was just shy of hitting the all-time record by 0.08 inches. The storm accounted for nearly half of all rainfall in December.
Oakland was soaked with 4.75 inches of rain in 24 hours, beating out the previous record set back on Jan. 4, 1982, by just 0.01.
Our Oakland site did have its wettest day on record (since 1970) with 4.75”, beating out the previous record set back on 1/4/1982 by just 0.01”
This day was 36% of December’s rainfall at this site pic.twitter.com/Je8takUEez
— NWS Bay Area 🌉 (@NWSBayArea) January 1, 2023
All lanes on Highway 101 at Oyster Point in South San Francisco reopened by 9 p.m. Saturday, according to the California Highway Patrol. Traffic had been redirected for several hours as Caltrans crews worked to clear the water from the roadways.
In the East Bay, some floodwaters remained along Whipple Road in Hayward, Redwood Road in Castro Valley and Gleason Drive in Dublin, according to the California Highway Patrol. Caltrans crews were working to pump out standing water near Dixon Landing Road in Milpitas through Saturday evening.
But the reprieve won’t last long; modest rainfall is expected to begin Monday, with forecasters predicting less than an inch of precipitation. And the next atmospheric river storm is predicted to hit Wednesday.
The Wednesday event is expected to potentially produce some flooding, according to the NWS, and he advised Bay Area residents to avoid any unnecessary travel until Thursday.
“People should start to prepare,” he said. “It is not impossible for there to be flooding.”
The storm will bring up to 2.5 inches of rain in the Santa Clara Valley, San Francisco and East Bay, while the region’s mountainous areas will get up to 6 inches.
This is a developing story. Come back for more updates.
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