'Our Worst Nightmare': As Storms Raged, Some 62 Million Gallons of Sewage Spilled Into Bay Area Waterways, Streets and Yards

The nine atmospheric river storms that began dumping vast amounts of rain on the state in late December, and refused to let up until last weekend, overwhelmed aging sewer systems, forcing wastewater agencies in the nine-county Bay Area to collectively release some 62 million gallons of raw or only partially treated sewage into nearby waterways, according to initial estimates from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.