Thousands of PG&E customers without power; 'atmospheric river' heads to Bay Area

SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Thousands of PG&E customers were without power early Friday morning as rain continues to pound the Bay Area. 

The largest outages at 6 a.m. were in the Petaluma and Penngrove areas in the North Bay, with more than 1,300 customers impacted. 

In Santa Rosa, sandbags were ready to be picked up by residents trying to avoid getting pummeled by the rain.

Rain was expected to ease up a bit Friday afternoon, but then re-appear Saturday and come down the hardest over the region on Sunday and Monday. 

Already, several inches of rain has drenched the Bay Area. 

Mount Diablo recorded 3.5 inches and Mount Tamalpais has had more then eight inches in the last 48 hours.

The rain is certainly needed as years of drought have dried out reservoirs.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District said its reservoirs are at 11% capacity.

EBMUD said its reservoirs are 55%  full.

Marin Municipal Water District's reservoirs are low – and most are in Mt. Tam's watershed.

"These last two years have been so dry that, you know, the soil on Mt. Tam is really parched and most of this rainfall is going to be absorbed into that soil," spokeswoman Emma Detwiler.