The first major storm of the season hit last night, dumping an
inch of rain on Gilroy. Yet, few residents have been left without
power, and little flooding has been reported.
The first major storm of the season hit last night, dumping an inch of rain on Gilroy. Yet, few residents have been left without power, and little flooding has been reported.
Compared to the rest of the Bay Area, Gilroy’s faring the storm well, said Matt Nauman, a spokesman for PG&E. About 40 customers lost power this morning around 6 a.m., but electricity to those homes was flowing again within an hour. As of noon, only three Gilroy customers were still without power, compared to about 13,000 customers in the South Bay, Nauman said. About 2,600 Morgan Hill residents also experienced a short power outage about 6 a.m.
About 1.5 inches of rain fell on Gilroy by 4 p.m., according to the Dispatch’s rain gauge. But aside from clearing a few tree limbs at Miller Park, City Engineer Rick Smelser said crews hadn’t experienced anything out of the ordinary.
“Honestly, the storm hasn’t produced the high winds that were predicted,” Smelser said.
Aside from localized flooding, “there’s nothing abnormal or significant about this storm,” he said. “But we’re keeping out eye on it. Right now, things are fine and there are no real problems out there.”
The storm won’t start winding down until about midnight, according to Diana Henderson of the National Weather Service.
The NWS reported wind gusts of 56 miles per hour atop Mt. Hamilton northeast of Morgan Hill, and gusts of about 22 miles per hour in San Martin.
The season’s first storm will hover over the entire Bay Area until Tuesday night and has dropped more than three inches of rain in the Santa Cruz Mountains, according to Henderson.
Those inches are a blessing for the thirsty valley, said Santa Clara Valley Water District spokeswoman Susan Siravo.
“It certainly is a good sign to see a storm this big come in so early in the season,” she said. “But we need a lot more to make a large impact.”
The valley is experiencing its third year of drought and the silver lining of this early storm is that it’s a good start toward reaching or exceeding the region’s annual rainfall of about 15 inches.
“We need above average rainfall to make a difference,” Siravo said. “That we’re picking up two inches or so with this storm is really great.”
Total reservoir levels jumped by nearly a percentage point since this morning, Siravo said, to over 44.1 percent of capacity by the afternoon.
Wednesday’s forecast includes “breezy” conditions and scattered showers, with sunny skies returning by Thursday, Henderson said. Friday and Saturday are also supposed to be sunny, with highs in the 70s.
Throughout PG&E’s entire service area, which extends from Eureka to Bakersfield, about 233,000 customers have been out of power for varying lengths of time since the storm began Monday night, Nauman reported. About 115,000 were still without power as of 11:45 a.m.
“It’s pretty unusual for this early in the season,” Nauman said of the blustery conditions. “It’s causing outages because the trees are still full of leaves so they’re heavier, unlike in January and February.”
