Alongside the slim river that separates San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties — south of the town alongside the peninsula — residents braced themselves for the incoming storm, nonetheless reeling from Saturday’s deluge.
On New Yr’s Eve, the usually dry creek swelled over its banks, flooding patios, streets, parking heaps and shops all through East Palo Alto, Palo Alto and Menlo Park — together with the doorway of Menlo Atherton Excessive College’s Performing Arts Heart.
On the Chaucer-Pope Bridge, a small, two-lane bridge connecting Menlo Park and Palo Alto, water rose to ranges simply inches shy of its 24-foot capability. The quantity of water shifting by means of the creek on Stanford College’s property — at 7,420 cubic ft per second — exceeded the 1998 report of seven,200.
On Wednesday, work crews and residents have been out getting ready for the subsequent storm. Rowen Lee was shoveling sand from a pile on Palo Alto Avenue into baggage, which she and her household then carried throughout the road to their Palo Alto home, which was flooded Saturday. She stated they have been alerted to the flood threat solely half-hour earlier than the creek spilled over.
“It obtained into our storage,” she stated, however the remainder of the home was spared. Homes constructed proper as much as the creek’s edge seemed precarious Wednesday afternoon — teetering atop cliffs exhibiting clean sedimentation the place water had climbed only a few days in the past.
Dana Shields lives on the Menlo Park facet of the creek.
Her home is one foot above the flood zone, and on Saturday she watched as water spilled into her neighbors’ yards and driveways.
Because the emergency response coordinator for her neighborhood — a casual, voluntary community-based place — she helped enlist different neighbors to assist herald sand baggage and shovel water out of driveways and yards.
“I’m not wanting ahead to tomorrow,” she stated, worrying issues might worsen.
Fallen timber and particles clogged bridges alongside the creek, together with some smaller conveyances upstream on Stanford College’s property.
The Bay Area is now bracing for one more highly effective storm that may hit Wednesday and Thursday.
“This is truly a brutal system that we’re and must be taken significantly,” the Nationwide Climate Service stated. “Menace to life doubtless throughout this storm.”
San Francisco Mayor London Breed warned residents that the incoming storm might get actually dangerous.
“We have been beneath the impression we might anticipate not even an inch of rain,” earlier than the New Yr’s Eve deluge, she stated.
As a substitute, the town obtained 5.5 inches, “the second largest quantity of rain in a 24-hour interval.”
She stated the town hadn’t been ready, however reacted swiftly and broadly — cleansing storm drains, offering sandbags, and addressing downed timber, mudslides and flooding.
“It was so out of vary, however we have been nonetheless capable of reply,” she stated.
She stated meteorologists at the moment are anticipating 2-3 inches of rain with this coming storm, together with winds of 20-30 mph and gusts exceeding 50 mph.
She urged folks to use 911 just for life and dying emergencies.
Each she and Mary Ellen Caroll, the town’s govt director of the Division of Emergency Administration, stated folks ought to name 311 for flooding and different non-life-threatening conditions.
Stanford’s Lake Lagunita, which has been dry for years, was partially stuffed on account of the New Yr’s Eve storm.
Geese and geese swam and congregated within the shallow water.
Cities throughout the peninsula are offering sandbag pickups for residents, whereas urging folks to remain house and hold avenue gutters clear because the storm strikes in early Wednesday morning.
On social media websites equivalent to Nextdoor, many recalled the flood of 1998, which submerged giant swaths of Palo Alto and Menlo Park — together with a piece of Freeway 101. Faculties have been closed for 2 days because the small, tech-centric cities alongside the peninsula bailed water and made repairs.
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