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6:03 p.m.: The city of Redwood City on Thursday issued a local emergency proclamation and will ask the city council to ratify it at the next meeting on Monday, according to City Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz.
The city has been coordinating with the city of San Carlos and San Mateo County, providing services to residents who have been affected by the bomb cyclone, which has pummeled the Bay Area in the last 24 hours.
A proclamation could allow the city to qualify for state or federal relief funds.
"Our public works and parks crews, fire and police personnel, and Parks, Recreation and Community Services staff have been doing great work to prepare for the storms, respond during the storms, and clean up and support recovery," Stevenson Diaz said.
Crews have been assisting with downed trees, outages and local flooding, according to city officials.
The city does not currently have an estimate for damages, either public or private, but she said she was not aware of any damage to city facilities or property.
The next council meeting is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 9, at 6 p.m.
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3:00 p.m.: Caltrain service resumed at 3:26 p.m.
Caltrain service remains stopped between the Hillsdale and Millbrae stations Thursday afternoon while crews work on repairs caused by a fallen tree earlier in the day.
An 80-foot eucalyptus tree crashed down onto overhead wires and was reported by Caltrain at 4:39 a.m. near the Burlingame Caltrain station.
The tree was removed Thursday afternoon, but service is still suspended until crews complete repairs.
Caltrain suggests customers use SamTrans as an alternative form of travel between the Hillsdale and Millbrae stations until service resumes. Caltrain has not released an estimate for when service will resume in the affected area.
Mark Allen Cu at Bay City News contributed to this report.
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2:28 p.m.: SANDBAGS
The city of Redwood City Public Works Department is reporting it has distributed a whopping, recording-breaking 16,000 sandbags over the last week. Sandbags are still available at 1400 Broadway until 5 p.m. If you need assistance, call 650-780-7464.
The Better Business Bureau has tips on what to do if you have been affected by flooding. Read that here.
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1:11 p.m.: PG&E RESTORATION EFFORTS
Pacific Gas and Electric Company gave an update on Thursday on the reported outages and its restoration efforts throughout the area this week, beginning with the powerful New Year's Eve storm that wreaked havoc in the region.
During a Facebook Live event, Janisse Quinones, PG&E senior vice president, said that the utility company was still working to restore power to customers who'd lost it during the New Year's Eve storm. By Thursday, another 440,000 customers had lost power. However, the company has restored power to 325,000 customers, Quinones said.
In the Bay Area, specifically, a total of 66,441 customers are without power, PG&E spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian said in an email. At 2:00 p.m., roughly 17,000 residents are without power along the Peninsula. According to the PG&E outage map, about 675 customers are without power in Emerald Hills, with an estimated time of restoration of 11 p.m.
One of the biggest tasks of restoring power is assessing the criticality of each outage and the impact of the restoration.
"If it's a hospital, emergency management service, or fire station. Then we go to outages that restore the most amount of customers, and that's why you've seen the big numbers of restorations we've seen today," Quinones said.
Crews have, at times, been grounded due to having lost access to highways, so they were unable to reach customers, she said. In one instance, crews lost access to Highway 1.
Quinones said PG&E has 369 crews on the ground and has support from various utility companies across the state, as well as support from crews from Oregon, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.
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12:30 p.m.: EXTENDED FLOOD ADVISORY
The flood advisory is now in effect until 2:45 p.m. The National Weather Service reports light to moderate rain throughout the afternoon, which could lead to additional flooding and traffic disruptions in the Bay Area.
The Redwood City Police Department has shut down the 1500 block of Maple Street as of 12:38 p.m. due to roadway flooding, officials said in an email.
San Mateo County is advising motorists to avoid driving along El Camino Real between Hillsdale Drive between the San Mateo and Burlingame city limits due to roadway flooding.
The San Mateo County Emergency Operations Center continues to monitor weather conditions throughout the area, officials said Thursday morning.
*****ORIGINAL STORY
As a powerful bomb cyclone battered down on the Bay Area Wednesday night, residents across the mid-Peninsula reported power outages in their homes, flooding in their neighborhoods and water damage to their property.
On Thursday, the National Weather Service predicts more rain on the way, with showers and possible thunderstorms throughout the day as remnants of a cold front push through the area. While a flood warning expired at midnight, a flood advisory remains in effect until 12:45 p.m. Thursday.
Multiple trains across the county are delayed, Caltrain reported Thursday. According to the Burlingame Police Department, a large tree fell over the Caltrain tracks and is blocking the north and south lanes at the Burlingame Avenue station.
For more information on train delays, go here.
The California Drive and North Lane railroad crossing are closed to cars and pedestrians, Burlingame police said.
Power lines are reported to be down west of Brewster Ave., according to the Redwood City Police Department. An estimated 675 customers are currently without power. PG&E is actively working to restore power, a police report said.
As of 9:15 a.m., roughly 30,000 residents are without power along the Peninsula, PG&E spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian said in an email. More than 83,867 customers have been affected throughout the Bay Area.
This is a developing story. Check back for storm updates. Have something to share? Email us at editor@rwcpulse.com
For yesterday's story, read this.
