(12-02) 12:39 PST -- The sun finally peeked out between the clouds Sunday morning as the third of three big storms sweeping through the Bay Area began to taper off, leaving the region soggy and damaged but not as disastrously flooded as some had feared.
The storm dropped fewer inches than forecasters had predicted, allowing the National Weather Service to cancel its flash flood warning for most counties.
Flood watches are still in place for Sonoma County, particularly along the Russian River, as well as along the Napa River. However, Napa city officials said they don't expect the river to leap its banks, and the Russian River is not expected to spill over significantly until Monday.
That doesn't mean there isn't significant aggravation from the heavy rains, though.
In San Francisco, the Muni Church Station is flooded, and the Municipal Transportation Agency is providing bus shuttles from West Portal to Embarcadero to fill in. BART service along many lines was briefly stopped by a weather-related power outage
A big rig overturned on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge shortly before dawn and shut down the eastbound lanes for about five hours before being re-opened.
Traffic was similarly stopped Sunday around 9 a.m. on eastbound Highway 24 at Moraga by a crash involving at least four vehicles, including one SUV that wound up on its roof. Traffic began moving slowly through area again before noon.
Along Highway 4 near Pittsburg, more than two dozen cars heading west had to pull over Sunday morning with flat tires because of a large hole in the road.
Winds and rain knocked down electrical lines in many places, triggering power outages to about 20,000 people in the Bay Area, including about 2,000 in San Francisco, according to PG&E. Another 7,500 in the East Bay and 5,000 in the North Bay are without power.
The storm was the third to hit the Bay Area over the past six days. It was expected to drop 1 to 3 inches of rain at lower elevations in the Bay Area on Saturday night and Sunday and from 3 to 7 inches at higher elevations.
Northwest Sonoma County was expected to get the most rain, according to the National Weather Service.
The Russian River will probably crest near Guerneville on Monday, said Duane Dykema, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. And despite the stoppage of rainfall, the Napa River will continue to rise until Sunday afternoon as it is fed by creeks and hills shedding their loads.
The Truckee River in the Sierra Nevada was also running high and fast, and Reno was experiencing some minor flooding.
The first storm, which hit Wednesday, moved quickly and dropped about 2 inches of rain at peak points in Sonoma County, Dykema said, but the second storm moved slower and dropped more rain on Thursday and Friday. "With the first two storms, we've already seen as much as 10 inches," Dykema said.
Downtown San Francisco saw 2.32 inches from the first two storms and downtown Oakland 2.33 inches. The wettest spot in the Bay Area was Venado in Sonoma County with a drenching 12.44 inches.
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