An apartment complex on Bisceglia Avenue was evacuated after the
season’s first storm dumped nearly three inches of rain on Morgan
Hill in less than 12 hours. Sand bags and plastic sheets, as well
as a movable
”
flooded
”
sign futilely guarded the front entrance of Trail Dust Barbecue
on Monterey Street downtown, and rising water crept inside the
building shortly after 5 p.m.
An apartment complex on Bisceglia Avenue was evacuated after the season’s first storm dumped nearly three inches of rain on Morgan Hill in less than 12 hours. Sand bags and plastic sheets, as well as a movable “flooded” sign futilely guarded the front entrance of Trail Dust Barbecue on Monterey Street downtown, and rising water crept inside the building shortly after 5 p.m.
The city of Morgan Hill ran out of emergency signs to close roads due to flooding Tuesday afternoon. Standing rain water covered the top of parked vehicles’ tires on the south end of town, near the Morgan Hill Post Office on Monterey Road.
Standing water in Ester Collins’ northeast Morgan Hill neighborhood was deep enough for her to go out for a boat ride down Fountain Avenue.
“We’re just going down the street in our kayak,” Collins said on the phone.
Emergency dispatch radio operators at the Morgan Hill Police Department were too busy answering calls from the public to list the areas in town that have been troubled by the torrential rain. But some that are closed, based on emergency radio transmissions, include Llagas Creek Road, where Llagas Creek began to flood about 3:40 p.m.; Monterey Road north of town, near Cochrane Road; Old Monterey Road from Monterey to Llagas roads; and Butterfield Boulevard at several locations including at San Pedro and Diana avenues.
The intersection of Church Street and Bisceglia Avenue was closed about 10:30 a.m. and remained closed throughout the day. When water began to enter an apartment complex on Bisceglia Avenue about 3 p.m., residents were evacuated to a nearby church.
A CalFire dispatch operator said personnel have responded to numerous traffic accidents, calls for residential flooding, and road flooding.
No significant injuries or damage have been reported.
City public works crews used portable pumps to attempt to disperse water that collected in areas that lacked adequate drainage. One such pump, in front of Trail Dust, couldn’t keep up with streams of water overflowing a retention hole next to the building. Public works crews were dispatched Trail Dust Barbecue and Glory Days Bar & Grill as well as other areas where flooding threatened traffic and structures.
By about 3:30 p.m. Morgan Hill Public Works ran out of emergency signs indicating flooded and closed roads, and began acquiring more from the city of San Jose, according to operators at the police dispatch center.
Live Oak High School canceled all its athletic events scheduled for Tuesday because of the heavy rainfall.
About 6 a.m. Tuesday, shortly after the storm started, about 2,600 Morgan Hill residents experienced a short power outage, according to Matt Nauman of PG&E. Power was restored by 7:10 a.m., after crews from the electricity company repaired the storm-related disruptions, and at about 10:45 a.m. exactly eight customers throughout South County were powerless.
Other areas where public works and emergency personnel responded local roads were flooding, starting about 10:30 a.m., include a flood control canal just west of Monterey Road, near Watsonville Road that was almost completely full, as well as the area surrounding the intersection of Calle Enrique and La Crosse Drive that was “completely flooded,” according to a Morgan Hill dispatch operator. Railroad Drive was flooded at Tennant Avenue about 10:50 a.m.
Flooding was also reported at Monterey Road and Burnett Avenue, Main and Del Monte avenues, and on the 1000 block of West Edmundson Avenue.
More than 2.7 inches of rain fell on Morgan Hill by 6 p.m., according to the Santa Clara Valley Water District which monitors a local rain gauge on its Web site.
The storm won’t start winding down until about midnight tonight, according to Diana Henderson of the National Weather Service.
The NWS reported wind gusts of 56 miles per hour atop Mt. Hamilton east of Morgan Hill, and gusts of about 22 miles per hour in San Martin.
The season’s first storm that will hover over the entire Bay Area until tonight night has dropped more than 8 inches of rain in parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains, according to Henderson. At least another inch of rain is expected in Morgan Hill before the storm dies down, based on forecasts.
Wednesday’s forecast portends “breezy” conditions with scattered showers, with sunny skies returning by Thursday, Henderson said.
As of about 3:45 p.m. today about 46,000 customers in the Bay Area, and 156,000 in PG&E’s entire service area were without power, Nauman said.
