Christmas in Gilroy won’t be winter white, just soggy gray. Rain
will continue this week with a system arriving Monday night which
will last through Wednesday. Another storm is expected on Saturday,
Christmas Day.
By Leigh Lawson
Christmas in Gilroy won’t be winter white, just soggy gray.
Rain will continue this week with a system arriving Monday night which will last through Wednesday. Another storm is expected on Saturday, Christmas Day.
Adding to the wintry ambiance, the least amount of sunlight of the year – winter solstice – is today. Daylight will last just 9 hours and 35 minutes with the sun rising at 7:17 a.m. and setting at 4:52 p.m.
At the Chestnut Fire Station in Gilroy, 3.15 inches of rain fell from Saturday to Monday morning, with Gilroy receiving the most rain of all Santa Clara County urban areas, said Fire Captain Roy Shackle. In Morgan Hill, 2.79 inches fell, according to the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s rain gauge.
Uvas Canyon, east of Gilroy in the coastal mountain range, received a whopping 10.57 inches over the weekend, said National Weather Service forecaster Bob Benjamin. There is a slight chance of rain on Thursday and Friday, he said. But Saturday’s system comes from the northern Pacific and will bring moderate to heavy rain. Four inches of rain are anticipated over the next week and a thunderstorm is expected to move through the Bay Area Monday night and again into Wednesday.
“The ground is now saturated,” said Shackel. “This is important, because with high winds, trees start coming down,” he said.
Over the weekend, plenty of South County residents felt the impact of downed trees. High wind contributed to 33 power outages in Morgan Hill and Gilroy, affecting 6,300 residents.
“All of these were storm related,” said Fiona Chan, a spokesperson for PG&E. By Monday at 4 p.m., power was restored to all Gilroy and Morgan Hill residents, except for two Monday morning outages affecting eight Morgan Hill residents, said Chan. Those outages were caused by a broken power pole on Oak Glen Road.
Trees falling on utility lines caused many of these outages, with phone and cable service mainly affected, said Shackel. He said falling trees did not block any roads or fall on any houses in Gilroy that he was aware of.
Two 50-foot trees in front of Saint Mary’s Catholic Church on First Street toppled Sunday morning, with one branch falling on the roof of the church’s administration building at 9:30 a.m. Liturgist Rose Barry said she was inside the administration office when she heard the first tree split in half at around 8:30 a.m. Later the split tree fell on the second tree, uprooting it. Barry said no one was injured and there was only minor damage to the roof.
“Thank goodness it was during a service and everyone was inside,” she said. Barry estimates the trees were at least 45 years old, and guesses they were planted in 1965 when the church was last rebuilt. The fallen trees were cleared and the commotion did not get in the way of the day’s church activities.
“Service went on like nothing happened,” said parishioner Ermelindo Puente.
Two power lines toppled at two separate locations at 8 a.m. Sunday in Morgan Hill – one on Watsonville Road southwest of Santa Teresa Boulevard and another on Monterey Road in central Morgan Hill.
The trees fell due to winds of as high as 30 miles per hour Sunday and interrupted electricity for about 2,500 customers near downtown Morgan Hill and 900 customers near Watsonville Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard.
Power was restored for the 2,500 customers about 9 a.m. and before 1 p.m. for those living in southwest Morgan Hill.
Those traveling this week may notice additional CHP cars patrolling the highways. Besides being able to respond to weather-related emergencies, CHP Officer Jaime Rios said the cars’ presence reminds drivers to slow down. With 14 traffic accidents reported last weekend in Santa Clara and San Benito counties, Rios said the number of collisions was a little above ordinary.
Fire Captain Shackle said less windy conditions are expected in the next storm.
“Over the Christmas weekend, things will be wet, but they won’t be wild.”
The South County’s four reservoirs filled during the rainy weekend. Coyote and Anderson reservoirs are at 48.7 percent and 45.7 percent of capacity. Coyote can hold 23,244 acre feet, Anderson 90,373 acre feet. The Pajaro River Watershed’s reservoirs, Chesbro and Uvas, were at 64.3 and 55.3 percent, respectively. Chesbro holds 7,945 acre feet and Uvas holds 9,835 acre feet. One acre foot is enough to supply water to two families of five for one year.
Staff Writer Lindsay Bryant contributed to this report.
