SAN FRANCISCO – Here is the latest on the storm hitting California gathered by AP reporters across the state:
12:12 p.m. PST
The city of Glendora is urging voluntary evacuation of homes near the Colby Fire burn area as a powerful storm heads toward Southern California.
The city on the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains east of Los Angeles raised its alert level to orange Thursday morning.
The Colby Fire burned 1,900 acres on the steep slopes above the cities of Glendora and Azusa in mid-January.
11:55 a.m. PST
In Santa Cruz, about an hour south of San Francisco, an elementary school student was trapped for about 15 minutes when an 80 foot tree fell on him, pinning his arm and shoulder until rescuers with chain saws freed him. He was taken to a hospital in good condition but likely a fractured arm.
11:34 a.m. PST
Interstate 5 closed in both directions at Weed in far Northern California due to flooding.
11:17 a.m. PST
PG&E update says 93,100 out of power in San Francisco.
11:15 a.m. PST
Winds gusting to 140 miles an hour are whipping through Sierra Nevada mountain passes ahead of a powerful wet Pacific storm, toppling trees in the Lake Tahoe area and grounding commercial airline flights in Reno.
11:05 a.m. PST
Some street flooding was reported in the Sacramento Valley as heavier rain moved in. The National Weather Service issued an urban and small stream flood advisory until Thursday night for much of the Sierra foothills and northern Central Valley.
The U.S. Forest Service warned of storm-related dangers in the Sierra Nevada where a forest fire last year burned 400 square miles of Stanislaus National Forest and part of Yosemite National Park.
10:28 a.m. PST:
The National Weather Service said a frontal rain band moved across the San Francisco Bay area during the morning, producing widespread flash flooding with rainfall rates of more than 1 inch per hour.
By late morning the band was moving through the Santa Cruz Mountains toward San Jose, with the Monterey Bay region expected to feel its impact by early afternoon. Moderate rain continuing behind the front was expected to taper off from the north.
10:15 a.m. PST:
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for areas burned in last summer's massive King Fire in El Dorado and Placer counties. Mudslides also were reported closing some roads in Lake County as the heaviest rain moved inland.
The snow level was about 8,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada, still above highway level, but was expected to lower to about 4,500 feet and cause chain controls and traffic delays overnight, said Brooke Bingaman of the National Weather Service in Sacramento.
One mountaintop monitor recorded a wind gust of 147 mph.
9:53 a.m. PST:
In the small, farm town of Healdsburg, cars stalled on flooded streets. Laura Cobar, a Safeway employee, said the water was rising and she feared it might enter the grocery store.
"We got kids canoeing in our parking lot, and there's water up to our doors," she said.
9:53 a.m. PST:
Boat trips taking people to Alcatraz Island, an iconic stop for San Francisco visitors, were canceled due the storm, according to Alcatraz Cruises LLC, the company that operates the tours. Tickets will be refunded, and the company said on its website that it expected to be operating again Friday.
9:30 a.m. PST:
On Twitter, the hashtag #BayAreaStorm was trending, while #HellaStorm had been tweeted about 10,000 times over 24 hours, according to analytics site Topsy.
9:25 a.m. PST:
The storm arrived overnight and dropped heavy rain north of San Francisco before spreading over the Bay Area. It's expected to move throughout the state through the day.
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