The year 2005, at least in Morgan Hill, is off to a wet and
windy beginning. The area is likely to see more of the same through
this week, according to the National Weather Service.
The year 2005, at least in Morgan Hill, is off to a wet and windy beginning. The area is likely to see more of the same through this week, according to the National Weather Service.
Forecasters are calling for wet weather – off and on – through Saturday, with temperatures hovering in the mid- to upper-50s and overnight lows dipping down into the mid-30s in the middle of the week, upper-30s other nights.
Today is expected to dry out somewhat although lingering showers are possible. The next storm is scheduled to roll in Wednesday. If it arrives as predicted, Wednesday would be the 10th consecutive day with rainfall for the area.
Locally, areas at a higher elevation in the Santa Clara Valley southern foothills received a dusting of snow over the weekend. Three inches of snow fell at the 4,200-foot-high Mt. Hamilton, northeast of Morgan Hill. Lick Observatory, located near the top of the peak, closed Sunday because of poor road conditions. People had difficulty getting up the mountain to the observatory, and the telescopes could not be opened because of the snow.
Inland valley areas were under a frost warning Monday night.
The rainy weather may have had its advantages, however. Police Lt. Joe Sampson said the New Year was celebrated relatively quietly, with little problems.
“It was a quiet weekend,” he said Monday. “It may have been that the rain kept everyone in. We didn’t have any big problems. Whatever the reason, we are pleased.”
The City of Morgan Hill Department of Public Works reported no calls for service for flooding over the weekend.
The weather has caused its share of problems, but nothing very severe.
A large oak tree came crashing down across Oak Glen Avenue in southwest Morgan Hill on New Year’s Day, at approximately 10am, but no one was injured.
Morgan Hill resident Dan Cloutier said he was out for a walk and heard a “thundering crack near Llagas Creek.” He said he retraced his steps in the direction of the sound and saw the tree toppled over, taking phone lines to the ground with it.
Three local accidents were attributed at least partly to the weather and wet road conditions. Early Thursday morning, at approximately 3am, a one-vehicle accident sent a San Jose man to St. Louise Medical Center. According to the CHP, David D. Carasco, 23, was driving westbound on Day Road, east of Watsonville Road in southwest Morgan Hill, when the Dodge he was driving ran off the road and crashed into a tree. Carasco was not charged in the accident.
Later that evening another one-vehicle accident sent a Morgan Hill man to Valley Medical Center with major injuries. CHP officials said Julie R. van Doren, 43, of Gilroy, was driving a Ford northbound on Highway 101 north of the Bailey Avenue interchange at approximately 10:23pm. Van Doren did not take into account the weather conditions, according to CHP Officer Borchard, and was driving at an unsafe speed when the vehicle hydro-planed off the road and crashed into the hillside along the highway. The Ford landed on the driver’s side, but Van Doren was not injured. Her passenger, Carlos O’Hara, 52, of Morgan Hill, received a major cut on the back of his head and cuts to his face.
On New Year’s Day, two cars collided at Buena Vista Avenue and No Name Uno just north of Gilroy at about 8:45pm. CHP said Mario Reyes, 20, of Gilroy, driving a Nissan, failed to stop at a stop sign. Reyes, who was heading northbound on No Name Uno, entered the intersection at about 20 mph, according to the CHP.
The front left of Reyes’ car struck a 1992 Pontiac driven by Pedro Marquez. The Pontiac rotated counter-clockwise and the sides of the two cars hit. The road was wet at the time, the CHP said. Marquez was taken to Saint Louise for treatment of minor injuries.
There were traffic problems in other areas, too. Major roads in and out of Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada mountains were closed for periods during the holiday weekend. Some residents traveling to or from Morgan Hill found their trip took nearly twice as long as normal, more than seven hours.
Rain-soaked Southern California got even wetter Monday as another storm dumped heavy snow in the mountains, eroded beaches and shut down a 40-mile stretch of the state’s major north-south highway.
In Goleta, near Santa Barbara, surging high tides washed away tons of sand deposited last year as part of a $2 million preservation project. Most of the 80,000 cubic yards of sand used at the beach to help curb erosion has been swept away, leaving a jagged wall of sand and dirt, forcing officials to close part of the coastline as a safety precaution.
The state has been battered over the past week by storms that have caused widespread street flooding and provided enough snow to keep skiers happy.
Average yearly rainfall totals, measured from July 1 to June 30, have already been surpassed in some areas.
Rain totals are well ahead of last year’s figures but forecasters said the drenching will likely not mark an end to the state’s long-term drought.
“It certainly provides some relief, but a drought is a multiyear problem,” said Dan Keeton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “One year of good rain doesn’t mean a full recovery.”
Some ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe area reported as much as 9 feet of snow since late last week. Since Oct. 1, the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory has measured more than 16 feet of snow near Donner Summit in the northern Sierra.
The storms have been caused by an extensive low pressure system that edged down from the Gulf of Alaska and remained parked off the Pacific Northwest.
SB County Landslide
It wasn’t confetti coming down on Panoche Poad in southern San Benito County this New Year’s Eve; it was boulders, mud and gravel.
In what some refer to as the “Jones” area of Panoche road, just past Appel’s farm at 11065 Panoche Road, the weekend’s brutal weather caused a landslide that started around noon on Friday and was still creeping down the side of the cliff Monday afternoon.
Friday, the debris only had covered about half the road that serves the rural, sparsely populated area, according to County Supervisor Reb Monaco, but by Monday the width of the road was completely covered.
The county closed the stretch of road Friday, but according to County Administrative Officer Gil Solorio, the blocked-off section of Panoche was still seeing some traffic as drivers pulled their cars up onto the shoulder of the road and around the heap of rocks and mud.
“Certainly we’re not encouraging people to use the road, but as an acknowledgment to the locals we’d like to ask that only they use the road,” said Solorio, adding farmers in the area would have to take Interstate 5 just to get around the closed-off section and into Hollister if they weren’t allowed on the road. Still, he said, drivers should use the road “only if they have to.”
It will take at least another two days for crews to bulldoze the debris out of the area.
Sandbags are offered free of charge at the El Toro Fire Station, 8300 Old Monterey Road, phone: 800-1793 for non-emergency), and by the city Public Works Department, 17555 Peak Ave, phone: 776-7337, fax: 779-6282).
Free Lance reporter By Jessica Quandt contributed to this story.
