Monday’s rain sets all-time downtown Sacramento record

Here is the latest on the record-setting storm hitting the Sacramento region. The storm dumped 2.38 inches of rain to downtown Sacramento on Monday.

12:30 p.m.

There are no traffic restrictions early Tuesday afternoon in the Intertstate 80 and Highway 50 corridors, but the state Department of Transportations reports foggy conditions on I-80 in the Castle Peak area.

10:55 a.m.

A city public works crew has been tied up for hours trying to remove a thick cottonwood tree that crushed a Honda sedan in the 2200 block of American Avenue in the Gardenland area of Sacramento.

The tree was hundreds of years old, said Antonio Gomez, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1947. It toppled an AT&T phone line on its way down before totaling the car.

The downpour caused 12 crashes between 8:10 a.m. and 9 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol’s Sacramento Communications Center. CHP also reported roadway flooding by Interstate 5 and Sutterville Road about 6:30 a.m.

10:35 a.m.

The heaviest rain from the two-day storm has ended, but a few showers are possible the rest of Tuesday, the National Weather Service reports. An urban and small stream flood advisory remains in place until 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, according to the weather service.

8:45 a.m.

At least two Sacramento-area streams are flooded Tuesday morning after heavy rainfall, according to the county alert network.

The Cosumnes River’s Deer Creek Crossing checks in at 163.43 inches deep, about 1.6 inches above the flood line, and a section of Arcade Creek exceeds its threshold by about the same amount.

Four other sites – Deer Creek Upstream, Dry Creek East Branch, Dry Creek Bypass and Natomas East Maintenance Drainage Canal Downstream – are actively being monitored due to high water levels.

8 a.m.

There is one confirmed death in the northbound Interstate 5 crash west of Vernalis, according the California Highway Patrol Modesto-area spokesman Officer Tom Olsen.

Numerous other people were injured in the chain-reaction crash involving eight vehicles, two of which are big rigs, he said. He did not have an exact number of those hurt, and no information was immediately available on the severity of injuries. There also was no information available on the person killed.

The crash occurred shortly before 4:30 a.m. on I-5 near the Interstate 580 junction. Northbound I-5 was closed between Howard Road and the crash scene. Caltrans set up a detour, taking motorists off I-5 and onto Highway 33, Olsen said.

“We are advising drivers to stay out of the area, to use Highways 99 and 33,” Olsen said shortly before 7:30 a.m. He said Caltrans and the CHP expected to reopen I-5 north before 8:30. One lane was open was open as of 7:40.

– Modesto Bee

7:45 a.m.

Sacramento International Airport was doused with more than three inches of rain between Monday and Tuesday mornings, the National Weather Service reported. No Tuesday flights are expected to be delayed longer than 11 minutes.

More rain is expected within the next two weeks, NWS-Sacramento meteorologist Mike Kochasic said, before a projected dry spell in late January and early February. Whether the moisture will be enough to compensate for scant rain over the last month remains to be seen.

“It’s the million-dollar question,” Kochasic said. “If those (future) systems end up looking like what we just had, it could make up for our dry December.”

Minor flooding has been seen in urban areas, creeks and small streams since the storm began Monday. In Sacramento County, Arcade Creek, at Winding Way east of College Oak Drive, and Deer Creek Crossing, On Scott Road, approximately 2.3 miles north of Latrobe Road, have reached flood stage, according to the county’s Alert System.

A flood advisory warning is in place from north of Corning to south of Turlock.

6:50 a.m.

A storm originating in the Gulf of Alaska delivered 2.38 inches of rain to downtown Sacramento on Monday, the most on Jan. 8 since the NWS began recording data in 1877.

The previous record was set last year, when Jan. 8 brought 1.96 inches of rain. Before that, it was 1.51 inches in 2001.

6:50 a.m.

Rain is expected to continue throughout the Sacramento Valley before slowing to a halt Tuesday afternoon. Mountain precipitation could linger slightly longer, with scattered showers possible Thursday and Friday before another system likely to hit on Monday.

6:50 a.m.

The wettest rainstorm of the winter dumped steady rain in fire-ravaged Northern California communities but only some fallen trees and minor rockslides were reported overnight.

Santa Rosa Assistant Fire Marshal Paul Lowenthal says no major problems have been reported in the hillsides communities hardest hit by wildfires in October where heavy rain brought the risk of mudslides.

– Associated Press

6:35 a.m.

Heavy rains pounding Southern California for a second day caused flooding and loosened hillsides as officials in fire-ravaged communities warned people to stay off roads over fears of destructive mud flows.

Water and debris in lanes shut down coastal U.S. 101 and traffic accidents on rain-slicked roadways across the region slowed the Tuesday morning commute to a crawl.

Several inches of rain fell in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, where thousands of residents evacuated over fears of mudslides in areas where the state's largest-ever fire raged last month.

- Associated Press

6:34 a.m.

A major crash has closed northbound Interstate 5 west of Vernalis, and traffic is being diverted at Howard Road, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The crash occurred shortly before 4:30 a.m. on I-5 near the Interstate 580 junction. An early entry on the CHP Traffic Incident Information Page said four or five vehicles and two semis are involved, and later entries indicate a few tow trucks were stuck in traffic.

6:30 a.m.

Sacramento Fire Boat and Rescue crews were on scene Tuesday morning for a water rescue at the north end of of Railroad Boulevard. Rising waters trapped individuals on an island under the Garden Highway overcrossing.

This story was originally published January 9, 2018 at 6:59 AM with the headline "Monday’s rain sets all-time downtown Sacramento record."