It's a little wet outside...

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GloBug

Guest
Boy, this is some storm! The rain is horizontal, and there is a lot of it. There is a regional park fire lane behind our back fence, and in the 20 years I've lived here, I have never seen it a solid body of water before. The streets have water rushing down them, and THIS IS JUST THE FIRST STORM! The forecast is for winds 20mph, but We have two more waiting for their turn! If you were to look at the Bay Area traffic map on kcbs.com, you would see so that there are tons of accidents, and that traffic is down to 9-14 mph all over the map, which is a good thing unless you are an idiot. I tried to take a pic for you, but when I slid open the glass door, the rain came driving in, so that door got closed really fast! 195,000 people without power!!!

Here is what KCBS says:

[size=large]Storms Bearing Down on Northern California[/size]

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A fierce arctic storm lashed California Friday, toppling trees, knocking out power and soaking a coastal landscape already charred by wildfires.

Sheets of rain and whipping wind slowed drivers in their morning commute, as forecasters predicted the harsh conditions to continue throughout the weekend.

In Northern California, heavy snow dropped on the Sierra Nevada, where winds gusted up to 85 miles per hour and a rare blizzard warning was in effect, according to the National Weather Service. Winds howled in the Sacramento Valley as well, with gusts up to 65 miles an hour, the strongest in a decade.

In Southern California, the storm was gathering strength off the coast and was expected to strike the region by mid-afternoon, Rorke said.

``We're watching it really blossom on satellite,'' National Weather Service forecaster Andrew Rorke said.

The storm was expected to pound Southern California with 4 inches of rain in the valleys and 9 inches or more in mountain areas, worrying residents living in areas burned by last fall's wildfires.

``The last rain we had, it all went under my foundation and I don't like that. It was flowing under my house,'' said Cindy Darling, a receptionist at the Lake Arrowhead Chamber of Commerce who got sandbags from the local fire department to put above her house. ``Everything up here's on a hill, so you have to do something.''

Ocean tides were expected to swell to 30 feet, prompting the U.S. Coast Guard to caution boaters to remain in port.

The U.S. Forest Service issued an avalanche warning for Mount Shasta, in the Cascade Range in far Northern California.

``If you don't have to go out this weekend, it might be a nice weekend to stay at home after the holidays,'' said Frank McCarton, chief deputy director of the California Office of Emergency Services.

The state plans to activate its emergency operations centers in Los Alamitos and Sacramento on Friday and has been coordinating with the California National Guard, the Coast Guard and local authorities.

Riverside and San Bernardino counties have deployed swift-water rescue teams in case torrential rains bring flash floods and mudslides.

In Truckee, north of Lake Tahoe, the American Red Cross planned to open a shelter Friday for motorists stranded by the snow.

The weather service was forecasting snow levels dropping to 4,000 feet along the western Sierra, with 10 feet of snow possible at elevations above 6,500 feet.

The forecasts failed to deter one group from attempting to ski all California ski resorts in just four days. Two skiers, a snowboarder and a ski biker have completed runs on 18 of the state's 28 resorts since Jan. 1.

``They are not putting it on hold,'' said Julia Vitarello, spokeswoman for the group Across the Atlas. ``The idea is to work through it and make it work.''

Wind gusts forced some Tahoe-area ski resorts to shut down some or all of their ski lifts on Thursday, and gusts in some areas were expected to top 100 mph Friday and Saturday.

``We'll operate as much of the resort as we're able to,'' said Russ Pecoraro, spokesman for Heavenly Mountain Resort in South Lake Tahoe.

Power outages, damaged electrical lines and downed trees were reported Friday morning.

A spokeswoman for Pacific Gas and Electric says more than 40,000 customers from Sonoma County south to Salinas have no electricity. One of the biggest outages is taking place on the Peninsula, where an estimated 9,000 customers are without power.

About 105,000 customers were without power from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, said spokesman Robert Tokunaga.

Residents in low-lying areas of the Central Valley were warned to get sandbags and expect 3 to 6 inches of rain, enough to swell creeks to flood stage.

The rain is not expected to overwhelm the state's major rivers, in part because upstream reservoirs are at low levels after last year's dry winter and spring, said Don Strickland, a spokesman for the California Department of Water Resources.

The heaviest precipitation - and possibly the most rain Southern California has seen in three years - was expected Friday night and Saturday. Some south-facing slopes could get downpours totaling 15 inches, including some areas particularly prone to mudslides after wildfires.
 
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GloBug

Guest
The dog REFUSES to go in the back yard to do his thing, so I had to bundle up and take him on a leash in the front. He was able to leap over the flooded areas of the street (and we are on a hill) but I had to walk through them! The things we do for love. AND JUST THIS SECOND, OUR FENCE BLEW DOWN, so Kiefer will not be going in the back yard for a while! Dang!!!
 
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