None of the canines or felines were injured and they were taken into temporary custody by Contra Costa Animal Services Department officers,  authorities said.

Three residents of the two-story home on Barber Lane were able to get out on their own and one was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District spokesman Steve Hill said.

The fire started in the garage of the home about 11 a.m. and spread to the second floor, Hill said.  Flames and smoke were coming out of the house when firefighters got to the scene.

Firefighters discovered the animals when they made entry into the house and brought them outside, Hill said.

Hill said the fire was brought under control about 11:30 a.m.  No firefighters were injured.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. A damage figure was not immediately available.

Animal Services Lt. Alana Weissman,  said the dogs, including some puppies,  had been left in the care of the house residents about a week ago by their owner who lives out of the county. The owner was enroute to the house Tuesday afternoon to retrieve the dogs, she said.

She said animal services officers would remain on the scene to wait for the dogs’ owner to arrive.

She said officers  were “happy to come out and assist and give the animals a quick onceover to make sure they were healthy. They all look happy and healthy.”

National Weather Service predictions showed calm, chilly air Tuesday in the Bay Area. Highs in the mid-50s were consistent throughout, with San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland each expected to top out at 55 degrees. Overnight temperatures could drop to the mid-30s, however, accompanied by calm winds and a dry, rainless night.

Those showers should diminish by Thursday, however, as temperatures were forecast to drop to highs in the low 50s before slowly rising to the high 50s by Saturday, giving the Bay Area its first completely dry weekend of 2023.

Richard Raymond Klein’s scheduled 1:30 p.m. arraignment will come six days after he was arrested in Mexico by United States law enforcement officers, with help from Mexican police, on suspicion of the December murder in Suisun City.

Klein was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service while he was in Rosarito, just south of the U.S.- Mexico border and part of the greater San Diego-Tijuana region.

He was then transported back into the states and held for a time in San Diego, where he was arrested early Friday by Solano County Sheriff’s investigators and booked into custody later in the day.

Also, Klein was held on a felony warrant out of Contra Costa County on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of narcotics for sale, possession of a controlled substance while armed, and possession of a controlled substance for sale.

He remains in Solano County Jail without bail for the murder allegation and $450,000 in bail on the charges listed in the warrant.

Suisun City police said that at about 9:50 p.m. Dec. 15, a 37-year-old man was killed in the 1200 block of Potrero Circle.

Investigators, working closely with the Solano County District Attorney’s Office and the Major Crimes Task Force, were able to identify Klein as the suspect and locate him. He was taken into custody at about 11:15 a.m. Wednesday in Rosarito.

Klein was arrested on suspicion of the murder and likely will face additional felony charges once arraigned on Tuesday.

In a social media post last week, Suisun City police officials, saying the investigation remains ongoing and no more details would be released at this time, ask that anyone with relevant information about the December shooting should call 421-7373.

The Solano County Coroner on Monday declined to identify the second murder victim, saying his name was “protected” by the Suisun Police Department. Suisun City Police Commander Jeff Henderson did not return the Reporter’s request on Monday for more information.

A Solano County Superior Court judge in November ordered Klein to face a jury trial for the April shooting in Fairfield.

After a held-to-answer arraignment, Judge Robert Bowers told Klein to return to Department 15 in the Justice Building in Vallejo for the trial at 9 a.m. Jan. 25.  The judge also scheduled some pretrial matters, among them a trial management conference at 9 a.m. Jan. 23.

Klein, who is represented by criminal defense attorney Dustin M. Gordon of Vallejo, is accused of killing a man on April 21.

Court records showed Gordon submitted a motion for adequate bail and release on Nov. 10 and Klein submitted a fingerprint card and appears to have been released from jail on Nov. 14.

Arrested May 3 in the 1200 block of Vine Drive in Fairfield and booked into Solano County Jail, Klein is accused of fatally shooting Anthony Fuimaono, 56, of Fairfield, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Police records show that around 11:30 p.m. on April 21, a group had gathered outside a home in the 300 block of Manzanita Avenue.

An investigation revealed that an argument occurred and guns were drawn, police said. Fuimaono was shot during the chaos.

On May 5, Klein, a large man at 6 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 280 pounds, appeared in Department 11 in Fairfield for an arraignment on the charges. Solano County District Attorney’s Office filed its criminal complaint on May 5.

If convicted at trial for the April killing, Klein, who was convicted of a felony in 2006 in Contra Costa County, faces 25 years to life for the murder and likely more time for using a firearm and being a previously convicted felon.

— Berkeley Humane

Yoda, I am. Like the infamous grand master of Jedi Order, I believe size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?

— EBSPCA

Meet Chopper, a sweet senior looking for a new home. This low-key, laid-back low-rider has one walk speed: leisurely. The only time he breaks into a trot is when he spies a cat, and then he quickly stops to watch from a distance. Chopper ignores other dogs in his vicinity. He just wants to sniff, nap and get your attention and treats! Chopper’s big noggin is made to lie in a lap and be petted. He can be your shop dog, your couch potato, wherever you need a mature lovebug to brighten your day. Chopper weighs 53 pounds, and we estimate his age to be around 8. To meet this pet at Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter (FAAS), call 510-337-8565 or visit alamedaanimalshelter.org/adopt online.

— FAAS

Tink is the sweetest little girl, born in her foster mom’s living room the day after her mother was rescued from an overcrowded residence. She was the tiniest of the litter and is the last of her family to find a home. Our tortie is initially quite shy, needing a little time to warm up and realize you’re not a predator, but once she does, look out! To meet our purr monster and lap sitter, contact Kay at kericksonttt@yahoo.com. Community Concern for Cats (CC4C) now holds weekend adoption events at Pet Food Express stores in Martinez and Concord plus our regular location at 1250-H Newell Ave. in Walnut Creek. Visit communityconcernforcats.org online for more information.

— CC4C

Finn is an extra-special ginger girl! Most ginger cats are male, and just a special few are female. Female ginger cats are well known to have calm and quiet personalities, and that’s Finn to a T! Finn is a people lover, lap lover, nap lover and playtime lover. Contact the staff at Milo Point Richmond for assistance at 220 S. Garrard Blvd. in Richmond from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. any day but Tuesdays. Our dedicated staff is on duty every day caring for our animals and have saved more than 39,000 lives in 28 years. For more details, visit milofoundation.org/contact-us.

— Milo Foundation

Mama Lana is a 1½-year-old domestic longhair beauty with a great personality and curly, fluffy tail. She loves people and will happily snuggle on your lap, purring away. But wait. Then there’s the Lana that gets the zoomies, flying around the house and playing with toys. She gets along with other cats and would make a great addition to your family. For more information about this or any other adoptable pets with the Contra Costa (CCSPCA), call Pat at 925-323-0667.

— CCSPCA

Downpours triggered the release of millions of gallons of raw sewage mixed with rainwater across the region in just two weeks, spilling contaminated water into dozens of rivers, creeks and ultimately into the ocean and San Francisco Bay, according to a Bay Area News Group analysis of 88 reports to the state’s Office of Emergency Services.

“Flooded waters contain pathogens,” warned Eileen White, executive officer for the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. “If you touch flood waters, you want to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water to make sure that you don’t get yourself exposed.”

When sewage flows into homes and businesses, expensive remediation and decontamination is needed to make them safe again. Overflows also may have dangerous consequences for the environment, because human waste, pharmaceuticals, shampoos and other harmful products are flushed down drains and toilets.

In one incident, the Martinez Refinery Company reported releasing more than six million gallons of storm and wastewater into the Carquinez Strait estuary, which drains into the San Francisco Bay, on Jan. 4, according to state records. The discharge of partially treated “process water” and storm water was necessary to avoid damage to the refinery, the company reported.

Dozens of other smaller incidents were caused by open manhole covers, broken pipes and overwhelmed treatment facilities, from Corte Madera to Woodside and Half Moon Bay to Pleasanton.

State records show that between Dec. 31 and Jan. 3, a total of more than 14 million gallons of sewage were discharged in the San Francisco Bay region, enough to fill 21 Olympic-sized swimming pools, according to White. The Jan. 4 storm triggered the release of another 8 million gallons, or 12 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

More recent releases are still being tallied. Experts say the total volume is likely to be much larger than current estimates because the chaotic circumstances surrounding these emergency flooding situations mean it’s nearly impossible to accurately evaluate the true scale and impact of sewage contamination.

Like bridges or skyscrapers designed to bear certain weights, stormwater management systems are designed within the limits of weather — and can’t handle the intensity of storms that might happen only every decade or two.

In dry times, waste from homes and businesses is whisked immediately away to wastewater-treatment plants, never to be seen, smelled or considered again.

But two weeks of near-constant storms have stressed the system, as heavy rainfall and flooding infiltrate sewer pipes.

“We saw 13 times our average wastewater flows,” said Andrea Pook of East Bay Municipal Utilities District.

Most of the releases were caused when storm water backs up into the streets, flowing up through drains or manhole covers forced open by the overwhelming volume of high-pressure torrents, the reports show.

In Redwood City, a manhole overflow sent polluted water into Borel Creek at a rate of 150 gallons per minute. In San Mateo, 100 to 150 gallons per minute flowed into a storm drain that empties into Polhemus Creek. About 50 gallons a minute were dumped into Sonoma Creek. In Oakland, the overflow of three manholes spilled 25,000 gallons into Lake Merritt.

When a sewage lift station in Daly City overflowed because of stormwater, 35,950 gallons of waste were released into the Pacific Ocean. The rupture of a main treatment line in Moss Beach also caused a spill into the ocean. In Pacifica, an overflowing pump station caused 20,000 gallons to be discharged at Linda Mar Beach.  About 34,000 gallons were released in Menlo Park’s Belle Haven neighborhood when a West Bay Sanitary treatment plant couldn’t keep up with the flow.

In Richmond, the West County Wastewater facility pumped sewage directly into the San Francisco Bay, according to a Jan. 11 report.  “It is unknown how long the releasing will be going for,” it said.

Three discharges into Oakland’s San Leandro Creek, Barnhill Marina and an estuary at the foot of Alice Street originated from the East Bay Municipal Utility District’s “overflow structures,” which are designed to discharge water in high-flow conditions.

Farther south, a sewage treatment plant was flooded Friday when the Salinas River rushed over the banks of a levee. Percolation ponds in the city of Templeton also were flooded, sending 300,000 gallons into the river.

Mother Nature is wreaking additional chaos. In Oakland, a tree fell on the sewer line, causing 5,100 gallons of sewage to be released into Sausal Creek. In Crockett, a hillside eroded and collapsed — causing a pipe to break and release 2,700 gallons. When debris blocked a sewer conduit, about 10,000 gallons overflowed into a drain that leads to Oakland’s Lake Temescal.

Records show that a single day — Dec. 31, New Year’s Eve — was responsible for the largest number of reports to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, with 51 discharges in different Bay Area cities.

On that morning alone, there were 15 sewage discharges in 12 cities: Hillsborough, Woodside, San Bruno, Daly City, Pacifica, Burlingame, Half Moon Bay, San Lorenzo, Richmond, Piedmont, Oakland and Daly City.  By midnight, there were an additional 36 discharges in 25 cities: Alameda, Oakland, San Mateo, Richmond, Pacifica, Martinez, El Granada, Montara, Pittsburg, Corte Madera, San Francisco, Antioch, Redwood City, Dublin, San Leandro, Albany, Berkeley, Woodside, Vallejo, Menlo Park, Benicia, Sausalito, Pleasanton, Foster City and Hayward.

The problem isn’t new, said Sejal Choksi-Chugh, executive director of San Francisco Baykeeper, a nonprofit focused on the health of the San Francisco Bay. But the constant rain has exacerbated the issue.

“Over the years, and typically every time it rains, we see sewage spills in the streets and wastewater overflows,” she said. “But the back-to-back-to-back-to-back major storm events is causing a continuous discharge. That’s what is new.”

With continued population growth, the demands on our sewer systems have increased, say experts. Meanwhile, more development leads to more asphalt and cement, so the bulk of the rainfall ends up in our sewage systems.  And our wastewater pipes, often made of clay, are aging, so water infiltrates through cracks and gaps.

The rate at which the urban Bay Area is adapting to these threats is lagging behind the speed at which rain is drowning it, said Choksi-Chugh.  Cities need to invest in replacing pipes and upgrading wastewater treatment systems to increase storage capacity and install more recycling technologies, she said. Cities also could incentivize homeowners to replace old pipes through grants or low-interest loans.

“Our old infrastructure is just not going to be up to snuff,” Choksi-Chugh said. “It’s not going to be able to handle these larger storm events, year upon year. So we really need to be thinking about the future.”

Robert Steven Jones was struck in the chest, back, and shoulder and died of those injuries a short time later, according to the pathologist who performed his autopsy. Police say the injuries to his back were a result of Jones twisting as bullets struck him.

The March 22, 2022 incident was recounted on Friday by five law enforcement officials — three who were present, and two who investigated the aftermath of the shooting.

Coroner’s inquests are held for every law enforcement-involved fatality in Contra Costa, and juries are asked to classify each death. Typically the votes are unanimous, but Friday was far from it; of the 15 jurors, eight voted to rule Jones’ death a homicide, and seven voted for suicide.

Despite the narrow margin, homicide will stand as the official manner of death. The decision carries no criminal nor civil liability.

Jones was fatally shot around 9 p.m. on the 8000 block of Westport Circle in Discovery Bay. Police had been called there for a report that he’d shoved his wife and was acting erratically. When two deputies entered the home, he allegedly brandished a knife and picked up an air rifle that shoots arrows, a weapon used for hunting or archery. The officers testified they believed it was either a hunting rifle or shotgun at the time.

The two deputies retreated and set up a perimeter around the house, calling additional units, a police dog, a drone and a hostage negotiation team as backup. They said they were anticipating a lengthy standoff, but that Jones emerged from the home with the arrow gun and began walking toward several of the officers.

Contra Costa sheriff’s Sgt. Amanda Sears testified Friday that she fired three shots at Jones after becoming convinced he was going to shoot her or her colleagues. She remembered thinking, “This man is going to shoot us. It’s not an if, it’s a when.”

“I remember begging him, ‘sir, please don’t make me shoot you. I don’t want to shoot you, put the gun down,’” Sears testified, pausing briefly to collect herself as she spoke.

Oakley police Sgt. Kevin Morris, the only other officer who fired to testify Friday, said he fired five to six shots at Jones after hearing a gunshot and assuming that Jones had fired at Sears and sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Duke.

Duke, Sears, and Deputy Antonia Powell have been identified as the sheriff’s employees who fired at Jones, while Morris and Oakley police Officer Tyler Radcliffe were identified as the Oakley officers who fired. All told, 17 police rounds were fired within a matter of seconds, according to Contra Costa District Attorney Senior Inspector John Garcia.

Both Morris, Sears, and a third deputy who was present but didn’t shoot Jones testified that he pointed the arrow rifle at officers several times during the encounter. Melen testified that after the shooting, Jones’ wife posted to Facebook that Jones, “never wanted to hurt anyone. He just was done and wanted an end.”

Melen also said there was something about Jones’ residence that stood out from those of his neighbors.

It was adorned with a “Thin Blue Line” flag and blue Christmas lights, to signal support for law enforcement.

As stormy skies returned Friday, California officials said that the relentless rains that have eased years of punishing drought have come at a terrible cost, already ranking among the Golden State’s deadliest natural disasters — with more rain on the way.

“We’ve now experienced multiple large and damaging storm systems and there are more on the way,” California Office of Emergency Services Director Nancy Ward said in a Friday news briefing. “We’ve experienced destructive flooding of homes and infrastructure, levee breaches and overtopping, mudslides hurricane force winds in many of our communities, and even had a tornado touch down in Northern California. But let me emphasize, we are not out of the woods yet. The threat to communities remains, and waters will continue to rise even after these storms have passed.”

David Lawrence, a meteorologist and emergency response specialist with the National Weather Service Western Region Headquarters, added that over the last 18 days, the state has seen a statewide average of just over 9 inches of rainfall.

“That is a remarkable number,” Lawrence said. “Some locations have seen their average annual rainfall already occur in just the last 18 days.”

Lawrence said that while the weather service did not expect Friday’s downpours “to be overly significant,” another set of storms arriving Saturday “will bring widespread heavy rainfall in some locations, very heavy mountain snowfall as well, in addition to gusty winds up to 50 to 60 mph.”

“Not only could that rain produce additional flooding — and certainly we’ll see some major impacts to travel in the mountains — but those winds could also blow over trees and bring additional power outages,” Lawrence said. “We do see an additional one or two storm systems for early next week before hopefully we do finally get at least a very brief break in the weather toward the latter portions of next week.”

Authorities ticked off the statewide toll to date from the remarkable deluges since Christmas that have fallen on a state that had been parched after a series of dry winters.

• 6,000 Californians under evacuation order
• More than 20,000 still without electric power
• More than 60 major road closures, at least 32 of which are ongoing
• Seven waterways still under watch for major flooding
• Emergency declarations in 41 of California’s 58 counties
• 19 confirmed deaths — a figure that would rise to 20 if a 5-year-old boy missing since being swept away by floodwaters Monday in the San Luis Obispo County town of San Miguel isn’t found alive.

“These storms are amongst the most deadly natural disasters in the modern history of our state,” Ward said.

Authorities urged people to avoid travel over the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, heed precautions and not drive over flooded roadways.

Ward said her office is coordinating with authorities in Monterey, Santa Cruz and Merced counties “whose regions we expect to continue to be vulnerable to these next two or three storm systems, and to include the possibility of a complete cutoff of the Monterey Peninsula.

Monterey County communications coordinator Maia Carroll said Friday the Salinas River already flooded rural roads farm fields near Chualar, causing temporary closures Thursday.

But it will remain a threat through the weekend to potentially flood and close access to Highway 68 between Salinas and Monterey and other major roadways, possibly even Highway 1. If all those roadways have to be closed, the Monterey Peninsula, home to some 54,000 people in Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel and Pebble Beach, could be isolated, perhaps for days. Carroll said ambulances and other emergency equipment have been positioned on both sides of areas where roads might have to close just in case.

“It depends on Mother Nature when we can exhale,” Carroll said.

Cindy Messer, lead deputy director at the California Department of Water Resources, said the Salinas is one of seven rivers and waterways under flood watch around the state. Others include the Sacramento River at Ord Ferry, the Navarro River at Navarro in Mendocino County, the Russian River in Guerneville, Bear Creek at McKee Road in Merced, and the San Joaquin River.

The silver lining, Messer said, is the relentless downpours have eased the state’s withering drought. Overall, statewide reservoir levels remain at about 75% of their average for this time of year, she said. That’s because the largest reservoirs were so low they take a lot of water to fill.

Lake Oroville was at about 47% of its full capacity, Shasta Lake at about 42% of its capacity, Folsom Lake at 42% of its capacity and lastly San Luis reservoir at 40% of its capacity.

“We’ve had an amazing amount of rainfall,” she said.

Six-hour rain totals from the National Weather Service as of noon Friday showed just under half of an inch had fallen in San Francisco and San Mateo between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m. Oakland received one-quarter of an inch, and Walnut Creek had one-third. A one and one-half inch downpour occurred over the Santa Cruz Mountains while San Jose was virtually dry with just one-tenth of an inch.

Here are the past 6 hour precip totals for this morning #CAwx pic.twitter.com/4oEfsWfY2b

— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) January 13, 2023

The weather service projected between a quarter and one-half of an inch of new rain in San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland on Friday night. On the coast in places such as Half Moon Bay and Pacifica, forecasts showed half of an inch of rain paired with wind gusts reaching 30 mph. Projections were lower in the East Bay, with Livermore and Walnut Creek expected to reach no more than one-quarter inch of rain Friday night.

Weather service meteorologist Eleanor Dhuyvetter said Saturday is a bigger concern, but those storms aren’t expected to be among the strongest the Bay Area has seen in the new year.

Even so, “with things just so saturated right now, it really doesn’t take much for some of the flooding issues, and that’s kind of the impacts we’re seeing.”

Saturday forecasts called for wind gusts up to 30 miles per hour and an inch of rainfall in downtown San Jose. In Oakland, rain totals could be as high as one inch with 24 mph winds, and San Francisco could see three-quarters of an inch with 21 mph gusts.

Sunday could be even more moderate, with no more than one-quarter of an inch expected in urban centers. But the rain was predicted to linger, with forecasts showing wet conditions lasting into Thursday.

Power outages, many caused by falling trees, were still afflicting thousands of customers in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. Tracking site poweroutage.us Friday afternoon showed 3,665 out in Santa Cruz County and 1,589 in Santa Clara County.

Caltrans closed highway 92 in both directions from highway 35 to Pilarcitos Creek Road Thursday after a massive sinkhole opened up. As of Friday, there was no estimated time of reopening for the key roadway.

On Friday night, Santa Clara County staff issued new evacuation warnings to watershed areas near the Uvas Reservoir, Pacheco Pass River Basin and intersection of Highway 101 and Bolsa Road “due to the weather conditions and potential risks of flooding to the general public and property.”

Those areas under evacuation warning risk include Pacheco Pass River Basin for those living in the areas of:

• El Toro Road south of Highway 152 to Bloomfield Avenue
• Lovers Lane between Shore Road and Highway 152

Watershed Areas of the Uvas Reservoir including those living:

• South of Uvas Reservoir including Thousand Trails RV Park and Uvas Pines RV Park
• South of Sycamore Drive and Watsonville Road
• Homes south of Lions Peak
• South of Day Road and Geri Lane
• Watsonville and Highway 152

Highway 101 and Bolsa Road:

• South of Hwy 152, East of Highway 101
• South of Pacheco Pass (Highway 152) and east of Highway 101
• South of Luchessa Avenue and east of Thomas Road
• East of Santa Teresa Boulevard to Castro Valley Road
• North of Castro Valley Road to Luchessa Avenue
• North of Highway 25 between Highway 101 & Bloomfield Road
• West of Bloomfield Avenue between Highway 25 and Pacheco Pass (Highway 152)
• East of Highway 101 to Pacheco Pass (Highway 152)

Residents and visitors “should gather their household members, pets, personal items, important documents, prescription medication, change of clothes, non-perishable foods, water, extra batteries, flashlights, and phone chargers” and “prepare to evacuate to a safe location,” staff said in a statement.

Along the Central Coast, the weather service issued high surf warnings and a coastal flood advisory, citing a combination of high tide cycles, strong winds and heavy rain runoff.

In the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the weather service issued a winter storm warning set to last from 4 a.m. Saturday to 10 a.m. Tuesday, advising travel could be “very difficult to impossible,” and to expect one to two feet of snow at the Tahoe Basin and three to five feet above elevations of 7,000 feet. By Friday afternoon, chain control checkpoints were in place on Interstate 80 and Highway 50.

Staff writer Rick Hurd and George Kelly contributed.

The famous local author wrote in his 1952 epic East of Eden that “sometimes it raged and boiled, bank full, and then it was a destroyer.”

“I think the public forgets,” Nieto said at a news briefing Thursday afternoon, “how dangerous the Salinas River can be.”

In the Bay Area, rain was expected overnight Thursday, but no more than one-tenth of an inch was expected in urban areas. Light rains are forecast to return Friday for the Monterey and San Francisco bay areas, delivering half and inch of rain to San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland, with up to an inch falling Saturday, and delivering snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

But in Monterey County, authorities and weather forecasters are concerned that a wave of water from storms earlier in the week is making its way down the Salinas River and up the Salinas Valley.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office ordered evacuations for low-lying areas along the river in preparation of floods that could potentially close overland routes into the area, isolating residents and businesses.

Officials prepared for Highway 68, River Road, Reservation Road, Blanco Road, multiple secondary roads, and even Highway 1 to potentially close.

“There is a high probability that the Salinas River will flood all access points into the Monterey Peninsula at some point on Thursday… lasting through Sunday,” said a statement from Monterey County Supervisor Wendy Root Askew. “This means that anyone who is on the peninsula when flooding occurs will not be able to leave. Conversely, anyone who is not on the peninsula will not be able to enter.”

Monterey County last saw the Salinas River flood like that in 1995. In March of that year, river gauges at Spreckels, the community a few miles south of Salinas where the East of Eden movie was filmed in 1955, recorded a record level of 30.29 feet, said National Weather Service meteorologist Cindy Palmer.

Flood stage at Spreckels is 23 feet, and the river was projected to reach that level late Thursday night and crest Friday morning at 24.4 feet. That’s between its significant flood stage at 24 feet and moderate flood stage at 26 feet, Palmer said. Anything over 28 feet would be considered major flooding, she said.

But Monterey County officials stressed that a lot of factors need to be considered. Askew said at a news conference Thursday that high tides will play a role as the river flows down the watershed. And flooded areas along the route could spread out over farm fields and lessen the amount of water going down the river channel.

“We are basing this information on the best information we have at the time, and it changes daily and sometimes hourly because mother nature is fickle,” added Nieto.

By Thursday afternoon in Monterey County, there already were reports of flooding upriver in Chualar. Nieto said that the disaster will unfold sequentially, as the mass of river water makes its way downstream.

“This will not occur all at the same time,” Nieto said. “This is a slow moving event. The river crests at different times.”

Many residents along the river, especially those with children, already have heeded the evacuation order and left, said Danielle Parker, who lives in the Spreckels community. She and her husband moved their valuables to a friend’s place on higher ground in Salinas. But they and their Great Dane Harileigh weren’t leaving their Spreckels home, where the living quarters are raised above ground level to withstand flooding, with only the garage below exposed.

“We’re hunkering down,” said Parker, 35, whose home is about a mile from the river. “Everyone’s just kind of hanging out watching each others’ stuff for the friends and neighbors who left town.”

The die-hards staying put were planning a party at a community park in the afternoon, Parker said.

“Everyone’s bringing food and drinks, we’ll have music playing,” Parker said. “If it does flood as bad as it might, we’ll have some socialization before we’re all stuck in our houses.”

The nearby Monterey Zoo, and a bed and breakfast and a horse boarding stable were continuing their usual operations. Janine Garcia at the zoo said that “the potential for actually cresting to the point of impacting us is very unlikely — maybe the roads into or out of this area, but the zoo itself will not be impacted.”

Connections Boarding Stable owner Sheryl Fudge said that “if they close the access, we’re all prepared — we have plenty of food on hand, so we should be fine.”

The NWS predicted at least a chance of rain each day and night through Jan. 18, though heavy wind gusts seen in recent days may not materialize. Residents should still be wary, as heavily saturated soils could still leave a window of opportunity for strong gusts to bring trees down and cause damage.

The Bay Area was still assessing and cleaning up severe weather-related damage Thursday from earlier storms. A new sinkhole that opened around 3 a.m. Thursday forced the closure of Highway 92 in both directions from upper Highway 35 to Pilarcitos Creek Road.

At Monterey Bay Kayaks in Monterey, Adam Helm said it’s the slow season and they weren’t too worried about the drop in business. He said employees who work at the Monterey site could work at another location up the coast if road access is cut off.

“For what we’ve been through over the past few years with COVID, fires, this is pretty minimal,” Helm said.

The eighth and ninth storms to target California since Christmas are on the way this holiday weekend, making for volatile and treacherous conditions from the Bay Area to the Sierra.

The storms themselves won’t be as intense as those that devastated communities in the Santa Cruz mountains and along the beaches over the past week, but with rivers running high and soils already saturated, more flooding and mudslides are predicted across California. The Salinas River in southern Monterey County in particular is expected to flood Friday.

“We definitely appreciate the bounty, but we wish it was spread out over a longer period,” Jeff Lorber, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Wednesday.

So much snow has fallen already this season that sensors are registering what is considered the “full seasonal snowpack” normally expected by April 1, state climatologist Michael Anderson told reporters during a news briefing Wednesday. It’s still too soon to say whether the snowpack levels will hold until then, but if they do, they could provide ample snowmelt to continue to fill the reservoirs this spring and summer.

Kevin “Coop” Cooper, a longtime Tahoe area ski condition reporter and resort marketing consultant, said the abundant snow is a welcome change after several lean snow years during the state’s drought.

“Right now, I’m looking out of my house and it’s snowing lightly. We’re seeing a nice new amount of snow, temperatures are dropping,” he said Wednesday. “After my 30 years up here, this is one of the best MLK weekends we’ve seen in a long time.”

But that comes with a catch.

Video: California storms drop hail in the Bay Area, cause rockslides, sinkholes and more

With heavy snow and high winds predicted in the Sierra through the weekend, getting to the mountains could be dangerous. Travel in vulnerable areas, especially the Sierra, is not advised from Friday afternoon through Saturday, Lorber said, “when the winds and the rainfall will be at their peak.” The ninth storm is expected to roar in late Sunday through Tuesday.

It’s the kind of warning that weekend warriors amped to hit the Sierra slopes don’t like to heed.

“Fresh snow is like going through butter,” said Andrew Pham, 22, who stopped at Helm of Sun Valley ski shop in San Jose to attach bindings to his new snowboard and is planning to drive up Friday. “When you’re the first one on it, ooh.”

By Wednesday, snowpack levels reached 226% of average for this time of year, beating out 2005 which was 206% of average. All that fresh snow is giving experts reason to feel optimistic that drought conditions that have gripped the Golden State for three years could meaningfully ease by the end of the snowy season.

“The fact that we’re continuing to get this precipitation is just absolutely fantastic,” said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Laboratory near Donner Summit. “It’s still unlikely that we’re going to get completely out of this drought in a single year. But if the storm door stays open… we can put a serious dent in it.”

As of Wednesday, major Northern California reservoirs have registered “impressive gains,” Anderson, the state climatologist, said. But there’s still plenty of catching up to do. Lake Don Pedro east of Modesto is at 69% capacity, for instance, and San Luis Reservoir southeast of the Bay Area, which has risen 35 feet since Dec. 1, is 40% full. The Shasta and Oroville reservoirs, the behemoths of California’s water system, are at 42% and 47% respectively. Lake Oroville has risen more than 90 feet since Dec. 1, surpassing its 2021 and 2022 levels.

“We’ve had quite a deficit because of the drought,” said Molly White, principal engineer with the state water board. “So we’re seeing steep inclines right now in storage, and hope that continues.”

In the Bay Area, Mount Umunhum in Santa Cruz County registered the highest rainfall total in the 24 hours leading to 10 a.m. Wednesday — 1.03 inches. Concord recorded 0.97 inches of rain. About six-tenths of an inch fell in Los Gatos; a quarter-inch fell at Ben Lomond, and two-tenths of an inch fell in San Jose and at the San Francisco International Airport.

In Tahoe, business is booming at ski resorts, despite struggles to keep lifts operational as a series of snow storms continues to plow through the Sierras. So much snow has accumulated in the Sierras already that ski resorts are having to keep track of avalanche risk hour-by-hour.

Mark McLaughlin, the so-called “storm king” who keeps track of Sierra conditions, said he listened to the concussive pounding Wednesday morning of cannons pelting the mountain sides of the Palisades Tahoe resort to trigger avalanches to improve safety before skiers arrive.

“I bet you I heard 20 of them this morning, 20 blasts,” McLaughlin said Wednesday.

John O’Connell, spokesman for Caltrans in the Lake Tahoe area, recommended that skiers from the Bay Area hit the road Thursday if they can, as the storm may arrive earlier Friday than initially expected. They should be prepared to put chains on their car tires unless they have four-wheel or all-wheel drive vehicles with tires designed for rain and snow. Either way, if there are chain controls due to ice and snow, vehicles should drive no faster than 30 mph, he said. And temporary road closures are possible during the snowstorms.

“We recommend people bring blankets, bottled water and snacks, have their phone charged up and a full tank of gas,” O’Connell said. “If we do have to hold traffic, you might be stuck up there in traffic that’s not moving for a little bit. We just want people to be prepared.”

Pham, who was tuning up his snowboard in San Jose on Wednesday, is still hoping to hit that fresh snow.

“But Dad called and said the storm is coming and I shouldn’t go,” he said. “So I guess I’m 50/50. But it would probably be worth it.”

Staff writer Scooty Nickerson contributed to this story.

The rain that arrived Sunday in the Bay Area is expected to last until Monday afternoon.

The updating real-time radar map above shows areas of precipitation in green, with greater intensities indicated by yellow and orange.

Updates on road closures and Sierra Nevada chain controls can be found on CalTrans’ website or mobile app or by calling (800) 427-7623.

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