The National Weather Service is once again warning Peninsula residents of the possibility of flash floods.
As of late Wednesday, warnings in portions of Monterey County last until 10 p.m. and 10:15 p.m., respectively. Both warnings impact areas with wildfire burn scars.
Earlier Wednesday, meteorologists issued a Flash Flood Warning for parts of San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties in the area burned by the CZU Lightning Complex fire. The warning has since expired, however, watches persist.
The new warnings and watches come after Tuesday night's storm was quieter than expected, with very few debris flows or floods. One person was hurt and several homes were damaged Wednesday when one hillside neighborhood in Salinas was slammed by a mud flow.
More than 5,000 residents living the CZU Lightning Complex burn scar were ordered to evacuate ahead of the storm for fear the heavy rains would trigger dangerous mudslides.
As of early Wednesday, Santa Cruz County officials had received no reports of any slides.
"Definitely got increased rainfall, pretty heavy at times, but not at all what we anticipated, which was good news," said Santa Rosa Assistant Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal.
While the winds were relatively calm by the time the sun came up, the evidence of strong winds was everywhere. Wind gusts exceeded 60 mph across the Bay Area with some areas topping 70 mph.
Plenty of trees were knocked down onto roads, power lines and even some homes overnight because of the high winds and thousands in the Bay Area woke up without power.
A falling tree took down a power line on Highway 35 near Alpine Rd. and crews spent hours in the rain working to repair the damage.
Rescue crews are standing guard. The California Office of Emergency Services has placed seven strike teams around the region.
"We also have the ability to task swift water rescue equipment, so boats and firefighters that are trained at operating in an extreme mud and debris flow," said Brian Marshall, fire and rescue chief with Cal OES.
Rescue helicopters are also standing by.
"Not anywhere as bad as the one a week ago, that was a much stronger wind storm," said one woman who lives in the Oakland Hills.
Her neighbor agreed, saying he didn’t see much damage.
"It’s just being without power and working from home during COVID."
PG&E reported that just over 27,000 customers had lost power across the Bay Area Wednesday morning, with the biggest outages in the East Bay and South Bay. About 5,000 customers lost power in the North Bay, another 800 on the Peninsula and 380 in San Francisco.
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