Yesterday I wrote about the bomb cyclone in the Pacific making landfall in northern California. The expectation was for high waves, high winds and lots and lots of rain. As expected this has created a mess statewide with nearly everyone in the state now under a flash flood watch. The state has gone from having not enough water to having way too much in a matter of weeks. And as feared the storm has already resulted in at least two deaths including one young child.

About 35 million people – or 90% of the California population – are under a flash flood watch. At the same time, rainfall rates exceeding 1 inch per hour are possible – which could exacerbate flooding and cause mudslides in areas still recovering from last weekend’s deadly flooding.

At least two deaths have already been linked to the latest storm.

In Sonoma County, a young child – about age 1 or 2 – was killed Wednesday when a redwood tree fell on a home, Occidental Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ron Lunardi said. And a 19-year-old woman died Wednesday after crashing her car into a utility pole on a flooded road in Northern California, the Fairfield Police Department said.

According to witness statements and evidence, the road was partially flooded “due to heavy rain pummeling the area,” Fairfield police said. The driver hit “a patch of standing water and hydroplaned, losing control of the vehicle, before colliding into a utility pole.”

Also as expected, many people are without power today as a result of power lines downed by winds and fallen trees and winds also caused flight cancelations.

Strong winds that toppled trees and power lines exacerbated concerns, and more than 175,000 homes and businesses were without power Thursday morning. Wind gusts in excess of 100 mph were reported in Placer County’s Alpine Meadows, and gusts of up to 85 mph forced cancelation of scores of flights at San Francisco International Airport.

Rivers and streams were rising to alarming levels, and authorities struggled to meet the demand for sandbags as residents scrambled to keep floodwaters out of homes.

Some public schools are still on winter break but in northern California many that were open have been closed today.

The severe storm pummeling the Bay Area has so far forced the closure of dozens of public schools across the region, affecting 54,000 kids.

So far, 23 school districts mostly in Sonoma and San Mateo counties will close their campuses for instruction Thursday. In flood-prone San Mateo County, schools in all but one district will be closed Thursday either because of the storm or because they are still in winter break.

The city of Pacifica lies along the coast just south of San Francisco. There are several live cams set up there and they show some of the big waves and flooding taking place this morning.

Here’s another clip from the same location but looking in the other direction. As you can see the people walking along decided to run for it as waves came up over the sea wall.

WHOA! Check out this clip from the Pacifica, #California livecam just now where this monster #wave crashes over the barrier! (then the camera goes out)🤯 #cawx #AtmosphericRiver @NWSBayArea pic.twitter.com/vy1HSrhxiq

— BirdingPeepWx (@BirdingPeepWx) January 5, 2023

A little farther south in Santa Cruz county there’s evidence of similar flooding and damage along the coast.

The storm has caused significant damage throughout the county and along the coast, including heavy damage to piers in Capitola and Seacliff. High tide and large surf is a dangerous combination – avoid the coast. pic.twitter.com/XiyuJBQUFB

— Santa Cruz County (@sccounty) January 5, 2023

There’s bound to be more but coming in as the day progresses. I’ll add updates below as I see them.

Update: This is Balboa island not far from where I live. Lots of water in the streets.

A strong winter storm brought lots of rain and treacherous conditions across Southern California, including this street flooding on Balboa Island early Thursday. More on the storm, including updates ⁦@ocregister⁩ pic.twitter.com/GnwEtiVnt4

— Mark Evans (@markevans_ap) January 5, 2023

From San Francisco, the winds took out this gas station canopy last night.

A gas station collapsed in South San Francisco last night as heavy storm continues to slam the Bay Area 📍⛈

Follow @YayAreaNews For Bay Area / Northern California Storm Updates In Real Time 🔔#BayArea #SanFrancisco #AtmosphericRiver #CAwx pic.twitter.com/ikO1B67oYq

— BAY AREA STATE OF MIND (@YayAreaNews) January 5, 2023

And this is from Oakland. Looks like someone tried to drive through this and only got halfway.

📸 Two cars were stuck in a flooded underpass at 34th and Webster in Oakland today at 4:45pm. #BombCyclone #AtmosphericRiver

Photo: @bethlaberge / @KQED pic.twitter.com/hgQzzRjakh

— KQED News (@KQEDnews) January 5, 2023

Update: It’s pretty common for homeless people to live along creeks and rivers in California. This guy was rescued after falling in while trying to reclaim some of his possessions from a camp.

pic.twitter.com/VJ3EYA8kuN

— Len Ramirez (@lenKPIX) January 5, 2023