The Santa Clara Valley Water District has a mandatory 15 percent water conservation water policy in place. Still, this series of storms is not going to change that, but it did give people a hint of what is to come.
The rain and wind joined forces on Monday to leave quite an impression. Tree branches snapped, storm drains backed up, and it was clear three people needed more than one umbrella.
"It was just wild when I got up in the morning; it was raining really hard," says San Jose resident Kevin Sadeghian.
The holiday made for a light commute, but the storm still made for treacherous driving.
"My car definitely skidded into a hydroplane, so that worries me a little," says Fremont resident Jennifer Nguyen.
After three years of drought, however there are few complaints about the weather or the forecast of more rain to come. Santa Clara County's 10 reservoirs are on average 42 percent full, but Lexington Reservoir is just 18 percent of capacity. The water district hopes predictions of an El Nino winter pan out.
"We've had three dry years so we're really looking forward to seeing what this bring us. If the forecasts are right, it looks like we could get a pretty big boost to our water supply overall," says Susan Siravo with the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
In fact there are some concerns the rain could come too hard, too fast -- especially on Wednesday. A number of agencies will be keeping a close eye on area creeks and rivers.
"We're conscious to know that there could be some mass flooding, some really quick flooding that goes on in specific areas in the city," says San Jose Fire Capt. Scott Kouns.
The San Jose Fire Department says on average it gets 230 calls a day and during heavy rain events that number can exceed 700. The best advice is to be prepared because more rain is on the way.
"Our trees need it, our plants need it, we need it, so it's good as long as it comes, but hopefully I'll be indoor in the next storm," says San Jose resident Diana Bautista.
Even with the holiday, the CHP says there were several minor accidents in the South Bay Monday morning. Highway 101 and highway 280 both seemed to have the worst of it.
