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The second in a series of storms slammed Northern California on Friday as heavy rain and strong winds knocked out power, tied up traffic and caused flooding along some stretches.View image

The weather also may be behind the death of a Pacific Gas & Electric worker in West Sacramento who was killed after his truck crashed into a traffic signal pole during the stormy weather.

A flash flood watch will remain in effect for most of the San Francisco Bay area extending to the Santa Cruz Mountains throughout the weekend. A constant barrage of heavy to moderate downpours could lead to standing water and numerous drains being flooded, said Diana Henderson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Monterey.

The North Bay was seemingly hit the hardest as parts of Sonoma County received more than 7.5 inches of rain and areas in Napa County received nearly 6 inches, Henderson said.

"It's not a superstorm by any measure, but this is pretty significant," she said. "We should see periods of moderate to heavy rains."

A traffic accident on Interstate 5 in Sacramento involving a jack-knifed big rig has been cleared.

The rig hit a center guard rail on I-5 just south of Sutterville Road about 8:30 a.m, causing traffic to back up in both directions of the freeway. California HIghway Patrol cleared the accident at 10:47 a.m.

One lane in each direction was blocked. Diesel fuel was spilled on the roadway.

- Bill Lindelof

Photo caption: A jack-knifed big rig is removed from the southbound lane of Interstate 5 near the Seamas Avenute exit in Sacramento on Friday, Nov. 30. Photo by Lezlie Sterling / lsterling@sacbee.com

Here's Fox40's video of the jack-knife.

From the Associated Press: Some coastal areas of Northern California were under a flash flood watch early Friday morning, with Sonoma County in the San Francisco Bay area under a more severe flash flood warning until 9:15 a.m. Thousands of people were without power.

A power outage also affected the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, where at least the suspension span was briefly in the dark.

Officials say another storm is expected over the weekend, creating the possibility of rock and mud slides in areas that are already saturated and have been affected by wild fires.

By Bill Lindelof
blindelof@sacbee.com

The first strong punch from this week's series of storms arrived overnight, delivering heavy rain and gusty winds.

Moving into the Sacramento region just as trees were losing their leaves, the soaking autumn storm kept municipal crews working through the night. At 5:15 a.m., in a driving rain, a City of Sacramento worker was dutifully using a rake to remove leaves from atop a gutter grate on H Street near Mercy Hospital.

Early morning commuters had to deal with dicey driving conditions. High winds threw palm fronds onto city streets and downpours pooled water on freeway offramps.

As of 5 a.m., rainfall totals were already substantial. From 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., totals included: .86 of an inch in Sacramento, .66 in Elk Grove, .79 in Rancho Cordova, .82 in Fair Oaks, .90 at Folsom Lake, .86 at Roseville, .73 at Loomis and 1.46 at Auburn.

tbizjak@sacbee.com

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District offers this advice for possible power outages.

• Become familiar with your service panel location and how to operate the main circuit breaker.

• Prepare a simple emergency kit: a flashlight, battery-operated clock, extra batteries, manual can opener, supply of bottled water

• Have a battery operated radio or television or to get news reports with estimated times that electricity will be restored.

7:52 p.m. Wednesday
Umbrellas are in order today as the first in a series of potentially soaking storms has arrived.

The first storm today is expected to be windy with gusts around 30 mph in the Sacramento region. Rainfall amounts are expected to be around a half inch.

Related stories:

River of storms headed to Northern California

First in series of storms arrives