A deluge of rain weather forecasters predicted would hit
Hollister last weekend finally appeared Monday night, drenching the
area and causing county public works employees to jump from one
minor flooding incident to another Tuesday.
Hollister – A deluge of rain weather forecasters predicted would hit Hollister last weekend finally appeared Monday night, drenching the area and causing county public works employees to jump from one minor flooding incident to another Tuesday.
Heavy rainfall Monday night and Tuesday morning caused almost a foot of rain to flood the low-water crossing at Tres Pinos Creek on Southside Road and crews had to close the road all day Tuesday, said Peter Corn, county assistant public works director.
Although rain slightly flooded parts of Aromas and caused a couple minor landslides in San Juan Canyon, public works employees managed to contain them, Corn said.
A landslide on Panoche Road a week and a half ago was mostly unaffected by the weather and Corn said for the first time in a week crews were able to make some headway in cleaning up the area. Only one lane is open to traffic where the slide occurred, he said.
Dry weather permitting, Corn said he hopes to have everything under control by the end of the week.
“Keep your fingers crossed,” he said.
The Hollister Public Works Department was expecting to work damage control over the weekend and on Monday and Tuesday because of the downpour that came on the heels of a recent storm which soaked the area several weeks ago, according to Steve Wittry, interim deputy director.
Although there was minor flooding in the older areas of downtown, there weren’t any major events to contend with, he said.
“We came away pretty good this time,” Wittry said.
Black clouds plaguing the skies above Hollister have dropped 50 percent more rain than normal on the city as of December, and the recent rainfall promises to push the ratio even higher. Between Thursday and Monday, Hollister received .61 inches of rain and could see another three-fourths to 1 inch thanks to a low pressure system that arrived last week, but should clear the mountains and head into Nevada by today, said forecaster Diana Henderson of the National Weather Service in Monterey.
It will leave behind cold, dry air and partly-cloudy skies the rest of the week, with temperatures in the low to mid-50s during the day and upper 30s at night, Henderson said.
San Benito County isn’t the only area with rainy-day blues, according to Henderson. She said the surrounding areas have seen 50 to 70 percent more rain than usual.
Hollister’s average seasonal rainfall from July to December is 4.88 inches, but the town received 5.50 inches during that time period in 2004, Henderson said.
A storm system over the weekend drenched some surrounding areas, such as parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains and areas with higher elevations, but missed Hollister because of the protection from the hills, she said.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
