San Jose gets good soaking from storm, slow commute

San Jose may have been feeling left out because of the lack of rain lately, even though everywhere else was getting wet, but not on Friday.

While the sun is out now, the South Bay got a good soaking early Friday.

This wasn't a slow drip. There was a lot more dropping from the sky than the South Bay is used to, at least lately.

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But the fierce rain meant a slow commute, more stop than go on northbound Highway 101.

"Once it starts raining, the call volume increases exponentially. We have crash after crash after crash. Spinouts and then secondary collisions where a car spins out and gets hit," CHP spokesperson Sgt. Ben Grasmuck said.

One woman's car ended up on a wall separating Highway 87 and the VTA track in San Jose. She was OK.

The smart move is to avoid the traffic and take Caltrain.


The worst part in Redwood City Friday morning was waiting in the rain for the next train, but once passengers were on, they didn't even have to stay awake.

"It's much better this way. You take a nap all the way down to 4th Street and King. And avoid any accidents that happen out there. Yes sir," Redwood City resident Larry Jensen said.



Blame the rain for the power going out at American Ace Supply on North 7th and Commercial Streets in San Jose.

A PG&E pole caught fire after 8 a.m., blowing out the transformers.

Just remember that small is relative, whether it's a fire or a puddle.



"As little as 3 or 4 inches of water can stall out your engine. You'll be stuck in the middle of a puddle. If it's deeper than that, we'll actually have to bring out a boat to rescue you. Let's just stay out of the water," San Jose Fire spokesperson Capt. Mitch Matlow said.

This isn't the only power outage in San Jose. At last check, 134 customers were without electricity in the city.