Bay Area residents squeeze in outdoor activities before Sunday storm
WALNUT CREEK -- Saturday was literally the calm before the storm in the Bay Area and California officials warned, in effect, "You ain't seen nothin' yet!"
Couds still hung high over the Bay Area for most of the day, perhaps lulling some into a false sense of security. But, at an Office of Emergency Services news conference, state leaders were doing everything they could to warn people about the atmospheric river approaching the region.
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"Ensure that, if you don't have to travel, you're not out and about during this storm. This is a very, very dangerous storm," said OES director Nancy Ward.
"If you don't need to be on the roadways during this storm, we're asking you to please, please postpone any non-essential until after the storm passes," advised Caltrans director, Tony Tavares.
"Areas that could be impacted include the Bay Area and Central Valley, especially on Sunday," said Eric Shoening, with the National Weather Service. "This storm could have just as big -- if not bigger -- impacts than any individual storm from last year."
The state said it had pre-positioned 5 million sandbags, activated swift-water rescue teams and had collected food, cots and blankets for shelters for the homeless. Weather predictions were pretty dire but, following other recent storms, many with fears of flooding had already done what they could to place sandbags and secure their properties.
On Saturday, people in the East Bay were getting in as much outside time as possible before it was time to hunker down. At Heather Farm park in Walnut Creek, the playground was jammed with kids.
"We couldn't even park in the parking lot. We had to go across the street to get over here. So everybody's trying to get their energy out, get their kids outdoors before the rainstorm comes," said Walnut Creek parent Ryan Opgenorth. "You want to get their energy out so that they sleep, that they eat well and you don't have just craziness, craziness in the house."
"It means your kids are going to bounce off the walls!" said mother Holly Procter. "Run them as hard as you can possibly run them!"
The grownups were out as well. A group of volleyball players, including Nik Mobasser, were getting in some time on the sand court, bragging that they played rain or shine.
"Drizzle, sure," Mobasser said. But would he be out on Sunday? "Tomorrow? No, I don't think so," he said, laughing.
The same was true in Oakland, where cycling has become a habit for Paul Belknap.
"Yeah, I do get a little cranky if I don't get a ride in every couple days," he said. "We've got a lot of rain coming and it probably won't be good for riding for a couple days, especially if we have road closures or something like that."
At the all-weather fields along the Berkeley waterfront, Carlo Solis was helping coach a group of of pee-wee soccer players while things were still dry. He remembered, with pride, a game from two years ago where he and his coed team played in a driving rain.
"We still have the pictures from that," he said. "That's still a memory that we have. We look back and we're like, 'we actually showed up! We actually showed up and played!'"
Domonic Robertson was taking in a view of the darkening skies from the top of Hiller Highlands in Oakland. He's a life coach in Southern California and, on this day, had a pretty philosophical way of looking at bad weather.
"I try not to keep up on the weather because I don't like it to dictate my plans," he said. "In the moment -- where I'm at -- I'm enjoying that moment. So, I refuse to let the weather dictate what's going on, or affecting me."
