The National Weather Service has issued a handful of weather warnings, watches and advisories related to a series of storms expected to lash the North Coast and interior areas through the end of the week.

A flood watch, a gale warning, a wind advisory and a high surf advisory were issued Tuesday.

“Computer models right now are showing a pretty bleak situation,” said Troy Nicolini, warning coordination meteorologist with the Eureka office of NWS. “This is just a really strong system coming out of the Pacific.”

Nicolini said the front was expected to pass through between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m. today, with a significant amount of rainfall anticipated during that time.

“We’re expecting 3 to 6 inches out of this storm, which is a lot given the time frame,” he said.

In addition to fears of flooding at the Eel River Delta, the NWS announced that several other rivers may reach flood stage around midday today. These include the Smith River at Crescent City and the Klamath River near the town of Klamath. Rivers are expected to reach monitor stage, Nicolini said, “pretty much everywhere else.”

The NWS expects “a threat of at least minor flooding to the immediate coast,” exacerbated by high tides of more than 7 feet and swells of 18 to 20 feet.

“A high surf advisory means that high surf will affect beaches in the advisory area, producing rip currents and localized beach erosion,” according to an NWS hazard message.

The situation is no better offshore. A hazardous seas warning is in effect through late Saturday night with winds gusting as high as 50 knots. The warning area includes Point St. George off the coast of Del Norte County to Cape Mendocino southwest of Ferndale and out 20 to 60 nautical miles.

A wind advisory for low-lying areas was issued and rescinded Tuesday. After winds as high as 50 mph Monday night, winds today are expected to range from 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 35, according to the NWS.

Because of high wind and heavy rain Monday night, more than 2,000 households in the area were without power at some point Tuesday, according to Pacific Gas and Electric spokesperson Lisa Randle.

She said that Humboldt County and western Trinity counties were the hardest-hit in the state, accounting for more than two-thirds of PG&E’s outages Tuesday. PGShe said that Humboldt County and western Trinity counties were the hardest-hit in the state, accounting for more than two-thirds of PG&E’s outages Tuesday. PG&E’s service area extends south to Bakersfield.

“The redwoods are really loaded up with water right now, and the ground is saturated, so the likelihood is that outages will increase going forward,” Randle said Tuesday afternoon. “(But) out of 15 million customers in our service area, a little over 3,000 are without power right now. I’d say that’s pretty good.”

Randle said two additional repair crews have been moved into the area, and units were available for dispatch from Ukiah, Willits and Fort Bragg.

“We do a lot of work on our system to maintain it, and that pays off when the storms come,” Randle said.

At press time, 268 customers, most of them in Southern Humboldt County, were still without power, according to Randle.