Winter storms could bring flash floods and damaging winds to the East Bay this week, on the heels of a system that soaked the region Monday morning. 

The Oakland and Berkeley hills have already seen 2.5 inches of rain since Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. And, meteorologist Brian Garcia says, “This was just the teaser.”

As that storm moves out of the region, Garcia said, it’s dragging in another area of low pressure that sets the stage for a more dangerous system to arrive late Tuesday night. 

The National Weather Service says Oakland could see between a quarter inch and half inch of rainfall tonight with winds gusting up to 48 miles per hour. Tomorrow, severe thunderstorms could pass over the region and continue into Christmas day with winds up to 30 miles per hour and up to another three quarters of an inch of rain. Rain will continue through Friday night.

Berkeley is forecast to see wind gusts that could top 50 miles per hour and even heavier rain from Tuesday’s storm. At one point early Wednesday morning, an especially strong band is forecast to drop as much as 1.5 inches of rain in an hour as it rolls through the Bay Area.

All told, the East Bay is expected to get about 2 inches of rain by Christmas morning, with higher amounts in the hills than the flatlands.

Gaps between the heaviest rainfall mean you’ll have opportunities to take care of holiday errands or walk the dog without getting soaked.

But there won’t be enough time between the back-to-back storms for the landscape to absorb all of the water falling this week. With soils saturated, Garcia said, the next rounds of rain could deluge creeks, storm drains and flood-prone areas.

“There’s not going to be any room at the inn, to use a Christmas pun,” he said. “It’s all going to be runoff.”

The Weather Service has issued a flood watch covering the Bay Area and Central Coast from Tuesday evening through Friday, when the forecast shows the potential for another rainy day.

But the biggest danger could be from the winds — the NWS also posted a high wind watch from Tuesday evening through early Wednesday morning. The gusts, which will blow from south to north, could take down branches or entire trees, Garcia said. 

The weekend will offer the Bay Area’s first chance to get a break from all the rain, he said.

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