It's Not Over: El Nino 'Main Event' Headed to Sonoma

(This National Weather Service graphic shows the storm as it touched down in San Francisco early Tuesday morning.)

El Nino weather has hit the Bay Area and the worst is yet to come, according to the National Weather Service. Weather service officials predict the heaviest rainfall in the region will occur between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. Wednesday.

See also: El Nino Drenches: Where to Find Sandbags in Sonoma County

A storm that hit Monday night and Tuesday morning, the first in a series of three, caused problems across the area.

The storm caused an old oak tree to come down onto power lines in Mill Valley, causing power outages for about 200 PG&E customers, according to the utility. Additionally, power equipment in Fremont was reported flooded around 8:50 a.m. Tuesday, affecting around 150 customers, PG&E officials said. A large area of Novato was hit with an outage in the afternoon.

PG&E spokesman Brian Swanson said that the utility hoped to restore power to the affected areas by noon Tuesday.

The relentless rain in the North Bay created some flooding, according to California Highway Patrol. Earlier Tuesday morning, a car got stuck on a flooded frontage road near the Bay Bridge, CHP officials said. The car has since been moved and the people inside were able to get out safely.

According to weather service officials, Sonoma County had the most rainfall Monday overnight, averaging between 4.5 and 5 inches, with the Santa Cruz Mountains coming in second with about 4.05 inches.

According to forecaster Bob Benjamin, there is still a significant amount of offshore activity contributing to the second storm of the series.

The Bay Area should expect to see scattered showers before the “main event” early Wednesday morning, Benjamin said.

-Bay City News Service