Oct. 13--The wet and windy storm that's moved into Northern California has brought widespread electrical outages, roadway flooding and a growing number of reports of falling trees and limbs.

About 11:30 a.m., there were 25,000 customers without power in the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, said spokesman Chris Capra. Crews were responding to about 100 separate outage incidents.

Sacramento registered 1.44 inches of rain as of 1:15 p.m. Wind gusts up to 45 mph were reported at Sacramento International Airport.

Northern California is expected to experience a fairly strong storm with 1 to 2 inches rain predicted in Sacramento, according to Johnnie Powell, forecaster for the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

ON THE ROADS

Caltrans reports it is about to block the fast-lane on southbound I-5, beginning at 12:30 p.m., for what officials say should be 90 minutes while crews work to free up a blocked drain pipe in the center median that is causing flooding on all five lanes. A drain on a nearby shoulder has been cleared, but six inches of waters to cover the road. While the freeway remains open, but traffic is backed up.

Caltrans rebuilt the storm drain system on that section of freeway last year. Dinger said those pumps are working, but debris collected over the summer apparently is clogging the drains.

"We have a pretty big traffic jam out there now," Caltrans Mark Dinger said.

Meanwhile, the CHP is reporting a rash of noon-hour collisions on local freeways and streets. They include a non-injury accident blocking a lane on northbound Interstate 5 downtown and a crash on westbound Interstate 80 east of Truxel Road. There is freeway flooding reported also on a section of Highway 99 just south of Martin Luther King Boulevard.

California Highway Patrol reports flooding on eastbound Highway 50 at the connection to I-5 near West Sacramento.

Interstate 5 and Seamas Avenue reopened at 11:45 a.m., Caltrans reports. A big rig traveling southbound about 6 a.m. crashed at Seamas near the South Land Park area. Two lanes of northbound I-5 were closed for commuters heading into downtown Sacramento, and traffic was backed up several miles to Hood-Franklin Road.

At one point during the morning, the Sacramento Traffic Management Center's incident page reported a tree down across the roadway at Gerber Avenue and T Street in Oak Park, a truck spinout on eastbound Interstate 80 just west of Marysville Boulevard, traffic signal lights out in Orangevale, and a blown electrical transformer that set a utility pole on fire along Jackson Road.

Around the Sacramento region, winds and rain had caused all kinds of problems, said Gonzales of the CHP.