Heavy Rain, High Winds Snarls Bay Area Commute

The San Francisco Bay Area was pummeled with hurricane force winds and heavy rain that began Thursday night and continued through Friday evening. The region was looking at a possible drought after the driest autumn in years. The series of storms headed toward the Bay Area gave a feeling of hope and dread to many residents.

Christie Campbell, a life-long Bay Area resident notes, "The freeways here are among the worst in the country when the driving conditions are perfect. Throw high winds and blinding rain into the mix they end up being deadly". Christie makes her way each morning along one of the worst commute routes in Northern California, Westbound Highway 4 from Antioch.

On a typical morning, it takes her about a half hour to drive to her office only 18 miles away. Friday morning it took twice as long. "News reports speculated that we wouldn't experience much flooding since we haven't really had a good hard rain in a while. They said the ground would be so dry, it would soak up whatever these storms threw our way. I'm really glad that it's raining, but the reports about little to no flooding were completely wrong ."

In an effort to avoid the stronger than usual wind gusts associated with driving over "The Hill" from Bay Point to Concord, many drivers steered clear of the freeway and opted to take their commute to the residential streets. Amy Protsman, another early morning commuter, lamented "The problem is that many of the commonly used surface streets were closed due to flooding just as the commute began. It's too windy on the freeway and a lot of the alternate routes are underwater or covered with fallen branches and blown down fences!" She pointed out that the situation only got worse as the day went on and the storm got stronger. "On the way home this afternoon, the flooding was more widespread and the freeway was looking like the safer option".