11:45 update: The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office issued an evacuation order for residents of the Bolsa Knolls neighborhood (just outside north Salinas in unincorporated Monterey County) due to flooding from the Santa Rita Creek. Impacted areas include those north of Russell Road, East of Bellinzona Road, South of St Moritz Way, and West of San Juan Grade, and West of Paul Ave, including England Avenue, Cornwall Street, Newlyn Street, Denner Road, Russell and Rogge Road. An updated evacuation map can be found at: https://bit.ly/3Za0Xc0.
11:00 update: By 11 a.m., 13,150 customers in Monterey County were still left without power, according to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. spokesperson Mayra Tostado. Areas hardest hit by outages include Monterey and Carmel, followed by Pacific Grove. Across the Central Coast — including Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties — approximately 19,860 customers were without power late Monday morning.
Tostado said PG&E has deployed more than 400 personnel to address Central Coast outages. She said crews are hoping to get power restored to some customers by Monday night but added that restoration may take longer than usual due to challenges from the storm.
10:45 update: The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office expanded its evacuation order for low-lying areas of the Carmel River. The expanded order includes residents living near Carmel Lagoon and Mission Field. An updated evacuation map can be found at: https://bit.ly/3Za0Xc0.
9:45 update: Pinnacles National Park closed Monday due to extremely hazardous conditions on roads and trails, according to a press release from the National Park Service.
“Having nearly exceeded our annual rainfall averages less than 10 days into the new year, most trail and road stream crossings are extremely swollen and moving quickly and extremely strong wind gusts of up to 60 mph are causing rocks and tees to fall on roads and trails,” the press release read.
The Pinnacles Campground will remain open to visitors with existing reservations, though park trails and roads are still closed to everyone — campers included — beyond the campground. Pinnacles will remain closed until hazards are mitigated.
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More than 16,000 residents are without power in Monterey County as another atmospheric river wreaks heavy rainfall and intense winds across the region.
The storm, which began its deluge Sunday night, had prompted numerous evacuation orders, school cancellations and road closures countywide by Monday morning.
Outages are primarily centered on the Monterey Peninsula and Carmel Valley according to a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. outage map. Isolated outages also stretch down the Big Sur coast.
Due to severe weather conditions, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District and Pacific Grove Unified School District canceled classes across all school sites Monday. Carmel Unified School District was not scheduled to resume classes from winter break until Tuesday, though the district canceled professional development set for Monday. Carmel Unified has yet to announce whether classes will be impacted Tuesday.
Monterey Peninsula College closed its campus Monday due to a power outage, canceling all sports practices and on-campus classes. CSU Monterey Bay – which is in between fall and spring semesters but has a shortened winter term ongoing – remained open Monday, though staff were encouraged to work remotely, according to university spokesperson Walter Ryce.
Meanwhile, evacuation orders already in place for areas around the county quickly heightened to orders as rivers neared or rose above flood stages. As of 9 a.m., evacuation orders had been issued for low-lying areas adjacent to the Pajaro, Carmel, Big Sur and Arroyo Seco rivers. A full evacuation map can be found at https://bit.ly/3Za0Xc0.
This story will be updated throughout the day as more details come in.
