GILROY
– The second in a series of winter storms swept through Gilroy
Thursday, bringing another 0.87 inches of rain to Gilroy while 0.43
inches fell in Morgan Hill.
GILROY – The second in a series of winter storms swept through Gilroy Thursday, bringing another 0.87 inches of rain to Gilroy while 0.43 inches fell in Morgan Hill.
Small storms are expected to pass through the area today and throughout the weekend, but the amount of rain will drop off.
“We’re only looking at an average of 0.25 inches each day,” said Rebbeca Waddington of the National Weather Service.
But with the amount of rain that has already fallen, even light rains have caused problems. There were several accidents in the area due to wet weather, including one injury accident Friday morning on Highway 101. A police officer outside of Morgan Hill also suffered minor injuries when he was rear ended Thursday afternoon by a hydro-planing automobile.
According to California Highway Patrol Officer Terry Mayes, South Valley drivers need to be cautious, even when rain isn’t falling.
“Vehicles are not going to have the traction,” she said.
Mayes encourages drivers to check their tires, as under-inflated tires cause problems with anit-lock brake systems. She also said to watch out for puddles, which may be deeper than expected and could be covering potholes.
The rain also affected area sporting events.
A leaking roof in Gilroy High School’s small gym forced the junior varsity’s annual Bob Hagen Memorial Basketball Tournament to move to South Valley Junior High School Thursday. A few girls’ soccer games this week were postponed due to rain, but this weekend’s events are all expected to go on as scheduled since all events are indoors.
According to Pacific Gas & Electric spokesman Jeff Smith, 5,539 customers in the Bay Area were without power, but most of them were in the Santa Cruz Mountain area.
“We should have most of it cleaned up by tomorrow morning,” he said.
Nearly 68,000 PG&E customers were without power systemwide Thursday afternoon, spokesman Tom Hill said. At the peak of this storm, 119,088 customers were in the dark.
In Northern California, the storm brought gale-force winds and an unusual dusting of snow to the coastal mountains north of San Francisco on Thursday. Nearly a foot of fresh powder was predicted for the Lake Tahoe area.
