Owners of flooded San Carlos restaurant prep for new storm; forecast shows heavy wind and rain

“I felt very bad, I was almost crying. But you know at that moment, we didn’t realize it was going to be that bad,” Zamora said. “But after the water receded, you could see the damage it did.”

However, the business partners have left the doors open after a long weekend of cleaning debris and throwing out damaged supplies. Zamora said they lost equipment, refrigerators and supplies due to flood damage. At this time, they are not sure how much the damage to the restaurant on El Camino Real and White Oak Way in San Carlos will cost.

Both Zamora and Ramirez had to travel to Santa Clara to get sandbags because San Carlos and multiple Home Depots were out. They said they took preventive actions because this week’s storm could be worse than the last.

And they could be right because Brayden Murdock, meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said an atmospheric river is passing through the Bay Area until 4 a.m. Friday. He anticipates the county to receive 4 inches of rain at the highest peaks and around 2 inches Bayside during the three-day span.

Zamora and Ramirez said they won’t be taking any chances. Aside from the 3-foot wall fortress they built with sandbags around the entryways, the business partners said they will be staying in their restaurant for most of the night into Thursday.

“We are going to stay here and protect our business, but if we feel the situation gets dangerous then we will leave,” Ramirez said.

The forecast the next few nights shows wind gusts estimated to be around 30-40 mph with flood watches in effect through Thursday. Murdock added residents should know their evacuation route if needed and have a backup plan to get that information as well. Another storm system is forecasted to pass through the Bay Area Friday night through Saturday. The county will see rain sporadically throughout next week, Murdock said.

“If you don’t need to be out, then don’t. When you do go out in these conditions you put yourself and others at risks such as first responders or family members,” Murdock said.

As of 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, 36,114 Pacific Gas and Electric customers were out of power on the Peninsula with that number at about 76,000 across the Bay Area, according to Bay City News. However, PG&E said it is dispatching more than 3,000 personnel for this week’s storm after nearly 500,000 customers lost their power due to the New Year’s Eve storm. 

Visit pgealerts.alerts.pge.com/outagecenter for information regarding outages. Additionally, customers can sign up for outage notifications via text, email, or phone by visiting the PG&E website.