ByLena Howland
Wednesday, March 12, 2025 8:52PM
With rain approaching the Bay Area, officials are warning people to expect strong winds and brace for flooding in some inland areas.
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — With sprinkles starting to fall on Bay Area commuters Wednesday morning, Alameda County Fire officials are warning people across the East Bay to expect strong winds and brace for flooding in some inland areas.
Division Chief Randall West says now is not the time to be testing driving through standing water.
“Six inches of water, may not be the six inches you think, it could definitely be deeper, so try to avoid those areas where you think you might be able to get through,” West said. “If your intuition tells you not to do it, it’s probably a good instinct not to go through that flooding.”
The National Weather Service issuing a High Wind Warning on Wednesday at 8 a.m. which will remain in effect through Thursday morning.
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That’s why West is urging people to be ready for power outages.
“Please go out and get batteries, please go out and if you have portable battery chargers and if you have those available, because once your power goes out, you’re kind of at the mercy of depending on the batteries and portable cell phone chargers,” West said.
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It’s a storm that’s putting a pause on a 225-mile kayaking journey, which the owners of Point Reyes Adventure Company are in the middle of.
“It’s not even expert level today, like you shouldn’t go out today, with gusts up to 55, nobody should be out there,” Liz Wilhelm, co-owner of Point Reyes Adventure Company said.
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They’re circumnavigating San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun Bays.
In just six days, they’ve made it a little under 100 miles.
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“Once it bumped up over 35, we realized, we’re not going to make a whole lot of progress so it’s safer for us to really take that day, rest and it’s conveniently right in the middle of our trip,” Dallas Smith, co-owner of Point Reyes Adventure Company said.
But with more rain and less wind in the forecast for Thursday, they plan to be back out on the water tomorrow.
“Rain’s not even that big of an issue for us, like we’re kayaking, we’re in the water and everything and we’ve got extra ponchos,” Wilhelm said.
If you do come across any downed power lines during this storm, PG&E says do not touch it, assume it is live and call 911 to report it.
