Some evacuation orders and warnings lifted in Carmel Valley, San Benancio and east of River Road; extreme weather passes over.

After a week of challenging news, Monterey County finally received some good news on Monday morning: Some of the evacuation orders and warnings in Carmel Valley were lifted as of 9:00am.

Orders were lifted for zones 17, 18 and the northern portion of zone 19. Warnings in zones 20 and 21 were also lifted. That means Carmel Valley Village, most of Garland Ranch park to the west, Saddle Mountain and areas west toward Palo Colorado, Jack's Peak and over to Highway 68 until the south side of the highway just to the east of Laguna Seca.

The southern portion of zone 19 from the intersection of Esquine Road and Carmel Valley Road remains under an evacuation order. The area includes from as Esquine Road travels south to where it becomes Southbank Road, which becomes Hitchcock Road, forming the northern boundary of the current evacuation order, according to county information released this morning.

Also good news: The extreme weather event predicted for the Monterey County area last night passed over uneventfully, with only 0.01 precipitation reported in Sand City. Lightning struck at the southernmost boundary of Monterey County in Big Sur early Sunday evening. It passed over and brought some lightning to the area of the fires in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The National Weather Service cancelled the Red Flag Weather alert early, ahead of the original Monday, 5pm end time.