.
Feedback

Storm Update: Some Still Without Power as Storm Progresses

Some downtown San Anselmo businesses have prepared for the worst as the most powerful storm of the season approaches. Creek levels in San Anselmo and Fairfax peaked early Friday morning, heavier rains are on the way this weekend.

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?


Follow us and don't miss a thing in San Anselmo and Fairfax!

"Like" us on Facebook  |  Follow us on Twitter  | Start a blog  | Follow us on Instagram  | Follow us on Pinterest | Get "Patched" in with our free newsletter

Newsletter & Alerts

Get the best stories each day and important breaking news

Subscribe

Not from San Anselmo-Fairfax Patch? Find your Local Patch »

Loading comments ...
Note Article
Just a short thought to get the word out quickly about anything in your neighborhood.
Share something with your neighbors. Write a new post... What's up? Make an announcement, speak your mind, or sell something
Jessica Mullins (Editor) May 15, 2013 at 12:18 pm
Thanks for the feedback, John. To my knowledge, we don't have a comments stream anywhere. DefinitelyRead More submit your comments here (it's the most efficient way to get your thoughts heard at the higher level): http://ow.ly/l4cyg
M. Kathryn Thompson May 21, 2013 at 09:54 am
Dr. Gullion is also lovely with men who get breast cancer as my husband did, he's the best!
Bren April 22, 2013 at 04:13 pm
Is anybody else here getting multiple e-mail notifications of new comments by Jo Tog, and thenRead More clicking the link, only to find that they are actually old comments from Jo Tog, but with today's date on them? What's the deal? Did all his comments get flagged and deleted, and now he's re-posting them? Most curious.
Sierra Salin April 22, 2013 at 02:02 pm
Jo Trog, we live in a Corporatocracy, not a republic. We abdicated the Republic after 9/11, if notRead More before. Know the difference.
Hiba April 21, 2013 at 06:52 pm
Banning the sale in a free market economy is too strong. I believe people should be able to chooseRead More so long as the product is labeled correctly, and even placed in a section with a big sign that says "GM Food products". Would I buy it if I pass the section at the grocery store: NO.
A May 4, 2013 at 12:55 pm
Many people in Marin are already at 50% or more of their entire income to pay for housing. And weRead More have no rent control here in Marin which is the only way I've seen that most seniors have been able to stay in San Francisco for several decades. Regarding your statement: "Market rate housing generates tax revenues, which in turn pay for schools, parks, emergency services, etc." Low income people pay a lot of sales tax in Marin (which is really high) and that also supports these causes. If they don't have the money to pay property taxes to own property, then the fact is, they just can't pay it. Be thankful that a large group of the population in Marin makes enough money to own property and pay it (and turn around and sell their houses for a handsome profit as well, don't forget about that.) Some folks here are just SPOILED rotten. Perhaps you should lobby that Marin employers just pay people living wages so they can afford to become buyers here and pay property taxes instead of trying to lobby against housing for the poor. Goodness knows how many taxes child-free low income people have paid to support wealthy folks kids and schools here. We don't get any of that, either, but we still have to pay for it...
A May 4, 2013 at 12:53 pm
I've heard that Marin is already in violation (either state or federal, or both) of not havingRead More enough low income housing in the county for its population. I think the county is under pressure to come into compliance which it has been out of in this area for a long time. This can only serve to better the lives of low income and elderly people in our county and perhaps reduce homelessness as well which is something we sorely need to do. However, what is amazing to me is that what we are calling "low income" housing in Marin still costs $1K+ a month per person from what I can tell. That's not "low income". Someone paying that much needs to be earning about $4K a month to keep housing costs in the 25-30% range that every financial planner recommends for a basic budget. I see a lot of low income people working HARD full-time to earn $1,600 a month here in restaurants, grocery stores, retail, hair salons, gyms, even clinics. They can't afford to live in Marin so many of them commute in from the east bay and further north to work in Marin. That is what is not sustainable. Think about the gas and pollution and the quality of life in the community due to turnover because there is no personal interaction with the staff of a lot of these places anymore because they don't stick around for very long.