Deluge

The crazy rain continues here in California. We've gotten 5 inches in the past 24 hours, and nearly all of it came in just a few hours last night. That doesn't SOUND like a lot, somehow, since 5 inches of snow would barely faze folks where I grew up. It turns out, though, that it's enough to snarl things up right well in the Bay Area.

Last night, it took me an hour to drive about 5 miles on the freeway. So I got off the highway and found myself driving in the middle of a river, essentially. A creek had overflowed and was just pouring across the road. Luckily, I drive a Jeep and was able to go right through it, with only a few scary hydroplaning moments when I didn't see spots where the road was flooded till I was right on top of them.

Apparently, they actually had to close down highway 101 near San Anselmo because of the rain, and they've evacuated parts of Petaluma. My landlord drives a teeny tiny Porsche and she couldn't even get home last night because of the crazy flooded roads -- her little car would have washed right away. I'm sort of surprised I didn't see any cows floating across the road last night as I was driving home.

Anyway, I'm heading into the city in an hour or so to pick up my honey at the airport, and I'm a bit worried that we're going to have no end of problems. According to SF Gate, 101 appears to be open at the moment, but all of my alternate routes home are closed, so if 101 shuts down again, we're screwed. I guess I better bring a wet suit -- we may be swimming home.