The National Weather Service early Wednesday canceled a flash-flood warning for the fire-ravaged Santa Cruz Mountains, indicating the threat of dangerous debris flows from the season’s most powerful rain storm yet that had prompted evacuations of 5,000 residents has likely passed.

The weather service said the flash flood warning that had been issued for last summer’s CZU Lightning Complex burn area in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties was canceled at 3:10 a.m. after the path of the drenching “atmospheric river” storm shifted to the south.

BOULDER CREEK, CA – JAN. 27: Water drains in the CZU burn scar above Boulder Creek, Calif., amidst fears of possible debris flows during Wednesday’s storm, Jan. 27, 2021. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) 

“The heavy rain has ended,” the weather service said in an early morning bulletin. “Flooding is no longer expected to pose a threat.”

PG&E said Wednesday morning that by 4:30 a.m. as many as 36,102 customers were without electricity throughout the Bay Area, more than 30,000 of them in the South and East Bay. By 6:30 a.m., 27,427 were still without power, 10,824 of them in the South Bay and 10,127 in the East Bay.

“PG&E crews are working safely and as quickly as possible to restore customers,” said Karly Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the utility.

Santa Cruz County officials said Wednesday morning that “while we did exceed debris flow thresholds for rain, we do not have reports of debris flows.”

“Crews are in the fields assessing for safety,” the county said in a statement. “Trees did come down overnight, impacting roads. Please allow extra time for travel.”

The Santa Cruz Mountains saw as much as 3-5 inches of snow Tuesday night as the cold front moved in, but as it passed through, snow levels rose and rain replaced and washed away much of the snow.

But a flash flood watch was to remain in effect until 4 p.m. Thursday for the CZU Lightning Complex burn area, and the weather service continued to urge caution, as the Santa Cruz Mountains have been soaked by 2.5 to 3.5 inches of rain “so far.”

“While the heaviest rain is behind us scattered showers will persist,” the weather service said. “Most of the heaviest rain has shifted south, over the Monterey Bay area up to Gilroy. Rain will continue to slowly move south until it reaches Big Sur and the Santa Lucia Mountains, where rain will continue to fall into the later hours of tonight and even into tomorrow.”

The only flash flood warning that remained in effect Wednesday morning was for the area in Monterey County burned by last summer’s 124,924-acre Dolan Fire in the Santa Lucia Range south of Big Sur. A wind advisory also remained for interior Monterey and San Benito counties and high wind warning for coastal Monterey.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Santa Cruz Unit, which battled the Aug. 16 CZU Lightning Complex wildfire that incinerated 86,509 acres from Davenport along the coast north of Santa Cruz to Big Basin State Park near Boulder Creek, also urged continued caution Wednesday.

“We’ve been responding to reports of downed trees throughout the overnight hours,” Cal Fire said on Twitter. “Many hazards still remain on the roads. You may encounter unreported debris. Please continue to use extreme caution.”

The weather service reported strong winds overnight throughout the region, with peak gusts as high as 84 mph in Santa Cruz, 80 mph on Mt. Diablo, 78 mph on Mt. Umunhum and 65 mph in San Jose. Much fiercer winds blew through the Lake Tahoe region, with a peak of 125 mph at Alpine Meadows.

Light snow continued to fall in the northern Sacramento Valley city of Redding, with moderate to heavy snow falling over the northern Sierra Nevada.

Rain totals were pretty much as forecasted, with 1-4 inches through the greater Bay Area region from the North Bay through Monterey County, said Brooke Bingaman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Bay Area unit.

As of 7:39 a.m., the weather service reported 24-hour totals 0.55 inches in San Jose, 0.86 inches in Oakland, 0.62 inches in Concord and 0.83 inches in San Francisco. Scotts Valley got 4.1 inches, Boulder Creek 3.52 inches, Big Sur 4.42 inches and the highest was 5.2 inches northwest of Hearst Castle.

Though there were no reports of major debris flows, there were scattered reports overnight of rock slides that local officials were expecting to assess through the morning, including one in the Dolan fire area, Bingaman said.

“We’re still waiting to hear the full extent of the damage,” Bingaman said.

Forecast models indicated the storm could turn northward again, though that would mainly affect southern Monterey County rather than the Santa Cruz Mountains, Bingaman said. Otherwise, lighter rains are forecast into the weekend and early next week.

“There’s a lot of moisture still in the air,” Bingaman said. “We’re going to continue to see showers today into tomorrow, it just won’t be nearly as intense as they were last night. There’s a possibility of another cold front coming in for the weekend and another early next week. However, both those systems don’t look as intense. Hopefully, they will bring beneficial rains to help with our totals for this rain season.”