Nervous Palo Alto, Menlo Park and East Palo Alto residents gathered at the historically troublesome San Francisquito Creek on Saturday morning as the heavy rains of the most recent storm caused water levels to rise rapidly and threaten to overflow the creek's banks. Some neighbors kept a close eye on data from online creek monitoring systems, trying to predict what might happen, while others hurriedly placed sandbags near their doors.

In the end, San Francisquito Creek overflowed in multiple locations, flooding streets and closing some roads in Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and Menlo Park — but the significant damage to local homes that occurred in 1998 was averted as waters began to recede in the early afternoon.

The Pope-Chaucer Bridge, which spans the San Francisquito Creek between Palo Alto and Menlo Park, was of particular concern Saturday.

According to Palo Alto's creek monitor, the water levels at the creek were exceeding 21 feet at about 10:40 a.m., nearing the bridge's 24-foot capacity. City officials issued a warning shortly after 10 a.m. that flooding at the bridge was likely within 30 minutes. They also noted that minor flooding was occurring at Seneca and Hale Streets near the creek.

The city's announcement urged residents near the creek to take protective actions, including placing sandbags near the entrances to their homes, raising valuables from low to high places in their homes and making sure vehicles are ready for possible evacuation.

By 10:48 a.m., the roiling, muddy water escaped the creekbed in some spots, rushing down the side streets onto University Avenue and crossing onto Crescent Drive in Crescent Park. The water reached the top of the curbs and approached the sidewalks as it rose up driveway aprons.

Palo Alto Mayor Pat Burt visited the areas around the creek Saturday and said the water went over the banks at numerous places. These breaches, however, were part of the reason the creek did not overflow at the bridge.

One house, at the corner of Chaucer Street and Palo Alto Avenue, had water pouring into its garage and backyard, he said. Otherwise, the properties in the area had generally avoided damage, he said.

"It looks like we had significant street flooding but limited impact on homes," Burt said.

When he returned to the Pope-Chaucer Bridge later in the morning, the water levels had dropped somewhat. By 12:30 p.m., the creek waters around the bridge had receded by about 18 inches, Burt said. He noted, however, that water levels were also high near the Woodland Avenue area in East Palo Alto.

"Downstream, it's still running really heavily and also still overtopping some places, even as it has receded at Pope-Chaucer," he said at around noon.

At the Newell Bridge, which is downstream from the Pope-Chaucer near the Palo Alto and East Palo Alto border, fast-moving water rose to within a foot of the bottom of the bridge. Emergency crews blocked Woodland Avenue at University and removed large chunks of debris with grappling hooks that threatened to dam up the University Avenue Bridge.

Those efforts didn't stop the creek from overflowing in spots in the section between the Newell and University bridges. Parts of Woodland Avenue flooded, inundating yards.

East Palo Alto flooding

At one East Palo Alto residence, water threatened to enter a home. The residents moved a car out of the garage to higher ground and were piling sandbags at the front door. The water was flooding the rear yard where several cars were parked under a carport.

"This hasn't happened for years. The landlord is bringing more sandbags," Juan Cuevas said, as he stood in the flooding yard.

Nearby, a driver in a red pickup truck stopped in the road, tentative about driving through water that had covered the roadway on Woodland. Eventually, the truck driver and others slowly made their way across the streaming current.

Orange caution cones blocked University Avenue at Woodland to prevent drivers heading west from entering the area. Cars traveling east were allowed to pass through to clear the roadway, an East Palo Alto police officer said.

At Manhattan Avenue in East Palo Alto, the road was well flooded, as were several side streets all the way to the West Bayshore Road at the U.S. Highway 101 sound wall.

East Palo Alto resident Webster Lincoln reported that an underground parking structure at the Woodland Apartments had flooded, where cars were up to their wheel wells in water. Photographs that he took showed a foot or more of water lapping at the fronts of a bank of washing machines and filling them halfway inside.

Faring better in Menlo Park

The Menlo Park side of Woodland had fared better at that point and was without flooding near the Pope-Chaucer Bridge, but residents said the creek flooded streets in spots just upstream of the bridge.

Hedeff Essaid said the water ran down Pope Street and drained down to Laurel Avenue. The water had retreated by 11:30 a.m. and the level had receded by about a foot. Still, an enormous debris field of logs, branches, trash and even a kitchen sink had gotten jammed up at the bridge.

Essaid, a hydrologist, was philosophical: "We have dry years and we have wet years. We have to be prepared for both," she said.

Work is planned on two bridges

The neighborhoods around the Pope-Chaucer Bridge experienced severe flooding in February 1998, when a storm caused the creek to overflow and water to inundate area homes. Since then, the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority, which includes elected officials from Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park and the two water districts on either side of the county line, has been working on plans to improve flood protection.

These include replacing both the flood-prone Pope-Chaucer Bridge and the Newell Street Bridge, which is further downstream.

The agency's current plans call for replacing the Newell Street Bridge in 2024 and the Pope-Chaucer Bridge in 2025.

The San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority has completed Phase 1 of the flood protection project, which widened the West Bayshore overpass at Highway 101, added flood walls, a reconfigured channel and protective berms in the creek and flood channel east of the freeway, held up well as the water shot down the creek past East Palo Alto's Gardens neighborhood. The work likely preserved an entire neighborhood that would likely have experienced serious flooding in the current storm.

The Gardens neighborhood has experienced significant flooding in the past, when city officials feared that a major storm could cause a Hurricane Katrina-like disaster event with loss of life. In 2012, the earthen levees were undermined in spots, which could have caused a failure. On Saturday afternoon, the neighborhood remained dry.

Saturday's storm led to numerous street closures. Palo Alto officials said the El Camino Real underpass at University Avenue was flooded and not passable.

The city also closed off sections of Palo Alto Avenue, between Chaucer and Seneca and a section of Quarry Avenue near El Camino Real. It had also temporarily closed off sections of University Avenue, between Middlefield Road and Woodland Avenue, and of Palo Alto Avenue, between Chaucer and Seneca Streets, but reopened them shortly before 1 p.m., according to an announcement from the city.

Minor flooding was also reported at 11:45 a.m. at portions of Hamilton Avenue, Guinda Street, Pitman Avenue and Martin Avenue.

Menlo Park police issued an advisory at 4:21 p.m. warning that southbound Middlefield Road at Survey Lane was completely flooded and shut down. Eastbound Marsh Road was reported closed at Haven Avenue.

Another storm is brewing

On Sunday, Jan. 1, Palo Alto administrators predicted that a larger storm could hit the Bay Area on Wednesday. On its website, the city urged residents to prepare for the next storm and provided details on getting sandbags, cleaning out storm drains and signing up for emergency alerts.

The city of Palo Alto has sandbags available at the Palo Alto Airport, 1925 Embarcadero Road; the Rinconada Tennis Courts at the corner of Newell Road and Hopkins Avenue; and at Mitchell Park, 600 East Meadow Drive. East Palo Alto has sandbags available for pickup at 1925 Embarcadero Road, located in Palo Alto at the airport. The nonprofit Youth Community Service has a launched an effort to get volunteers of all ages to help with filling sandbags.

For residents whose homes were flooded and damaged by the Dec. 31 weather, the city of Palo Alto posted on its website that help is available. To access assistance, email the city at [email protected] and include the following details: first name, last name, email address, mobile phone number, whether you have flood insurance, whether water got inside your home, and the level of damage to your residence. The city is establishing a process to offer three nights of hotel accommodations at select hotels for those confirmed to be flooded out of their homes.