Forecasts show continued low temperatures, more rain
Gilroy – The first winter storm caused minor flooding in central Gilroy and power outages on the city’s outskirts, though no major damage was reported.
Rain started falling in the city Friday evening with the heaviest part of the storm arriving Saturday night. The bad weather downed a power line in east Gilroy and caused a transformer failure in the northwest quadrant, according to PG&E spokesman Brian Swanson.
On Saturday night, about 850 homes in east Gilroy went without power between 7:30 and 10:30pm, while 150 residents in northwest Gilroy were in the dark from 9pm until 3 or 4am the next morning.
“The first storm is the one we’re most concerned about because of all the vegetation that has grown throughout the summer and fall,” Swanson said. “The first big storm of the season brings heavy winds and rain that blow around the dead vegetation and limbs, and branches fly into power lines. This storm certainly wasn’t the biggest one we’ve seen.”
In central Gilroy, flooding occurred at several points on Church Street and at the corner of Third and Rosanna streets, the result of clogs in drainage pipes connecting to the city’s main sewer system.
This weekend, a milk carton and a piece of cardboard were the culprits behind flooding at two of the four areas where water rose higher than the lip of sidewalks. City workers quickly removed the clogs within a matter of hours, said Todd Barreras, supervisor of Gilroy’s street, sewer and forestry division.
“We’ve been very lucky,” he said. “No trees came down, and right now we are on our leaf removal detail, which will help prevent flooding in the future. This one went very well. The first storm’s always a tough one because you’re not always sure what’s working and what’s not.”
It was a few weeks late, but the weekend downpour broke the seal on the storm season, according to Diane Henderson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.
The storm dropped 1.5 inches of rain on the area, bringing total rainfall since July to slightly more than two inches.
“The weekend storm came out of the gulf of Alaska and pretty much dumped all over everybody,” Henderson said. “We’ll experience another one Tuesday-ish. It’s going to be weak, fast-moving, and it will be out of here by Tuesday. After that, late Thursday or Friday, another series of systems will be coming through for the weekend, along the lines of what passed through this weekend.”
Temperatures this week will be on the chilly side, Henderson said, predicting a range between the 40s and the low- to mid-60s
