Storm Update: Some Still Without Power as Storm Progresses

Update: 9:42 a.m. PG&E has restored service to everyone but two customers in San Anselmo. There hasn't been any significant increase in creek levels in San Anselmo or Fairfax. 

Update: 10:43 p.m. PG&E is reporting 87 customers without power in Fairfax and eight customers without power in San Anselmo. 

Update: 4:08 p.m. PG&E is reporting the number of customers without power in San Anselmo has reduced to 11, while there are still eight outages in Fairfax affecting a total of 368 customers. Creek levels continued to decrease slightly in the afternoon, with San Anselmo Creek at 4 feet and Fairfax Creek at just over 1 feet at 4 p.m. Some downtown Fairfax and San Anselmo businesses had sandbags near front entries on Friday afternoon. 

WADE THOMAS SCHOOL CLOSED DUE TO POWER OUTAGE

As the most powerful storm of the season picks up in the Bay Area, power outages have forced the closure of Wade Thomas School in San Anselmo. 

According to the PG&E outage map, there are 331 customers in Fairfax and 162 customers in San Anselmo customers without power.

Are you one of them? Tell us in the comments.  

About 7,600 PG&E customers remain without power in the Bay Area this morning because of storm-related outages, including about 3,700 customers were without power in the North Bay as of 8 a.m., a utility spokeswoman said.

The storm had caused outages to nearly 16,000 Bay Area PG&E customers at its peak overnight, according to PG&E. There was no estimate for when the remaining affected customers would have their power restored.

RESIDENT, BUSINESS OWNERS WORRIED ABOUT SAN ANSELMO FLOODING

Thursday afternoon, during a break between the storms, sandbags could be seen near doorways of multiple downtown San Anselmo businesses.

San Anselmo resident Rick Bernard was filling roughly 20 sandbags on Sunny Hills Drive, where the town placed a pile of sand and bags for residents.

A lot of areas in San Anselmo flood easily, Bernard said. “If a storm parks over us, it’s going to be trouble.” 

Robin Artegina and Phil DesRosiers, co-owners of the Dojo studio of martial arts located at 9 Ross Avenue, were also quickly filling sandbags on Thursday afternoon for their business. 

They said that while he hoped it wouldn’t flood, it was easier to be prepared than to deal with the aftermath of a flood.

CREEK LEVELS PEAK EARLY FRIDAY MORNING

Thursday afternoon, the San Anselmo creek level was just above two feet (see photos at the right). Friday morning, as of 8:30 a.m., creek level charts were showing it at almost 5 feet (it peaked at 6 feet early this morning). The bottom of the building at 730 San Anselmo Avenue is at 13 feet.

The Fairfax creek went from less than 1 foot to measuring a water height of roughly 3 feet around 4:43 a.m. on Friday morning. It had reduced to less than 2 feet by 8:15 a.m. Critical creek level for the Fairfax Creek is 7.2 feet. 

The weather forecast for the area predicts thunderstorms the rest of the morning, a break in rain this afternoon and then rain picking back up again this evening and continuing through Saturday and into Sunday.

Town officials cancelled San Anselmo’s annual holiday lighting ceremony due to the weather.

On Monday, Fairfax town officials put two truck loads of sand for residents to use at the Pavilion. The town provides shovels and bags, but residents need to fill their own sandbags. 

Sand and bags are available for San Anselmo residents on Sunny Hills Drive in the parking lot adjacent to the tennis courts. (Right across the street from Swirl.) Residents should bring their own shovels to fill the bags.

We’ve already posted some information about flooding in San Anselmo and Fairfax.

FALLEN TREE BLOCKS HIGHWAY 1

A fallen tree and downed wires were blocking both directions of
state Highway 1 in Olema early Friday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The fallen tree, located near Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, was reported shortly before 4 a.m., according to the CHP.

Check back for updates and upload your storm photos to this article.  

- Bay City News contributed to this report

Other storm related articles on San Anselmo - Fairfax Patch:

• Six Things to Know About Flooding in Ross Valley
• Storm Safety Reminders for Pets
• San Anselmo Holiday Lighting Event Cancelled Due to Rain Forecast
• Holiday Tree Harvest Rescheduled Due to Storm Forecast
• Storm Backs Off for Now — Minor Flooding So Far
• 
  
• Powerful Storms Heading Our Way - Is Your Home Ready?

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