|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Heavy rainfall and powerful winds drenched the Bay Area over the weekend, causing widespread power outages, localized flooding, downed trees and traffic accidents.
The massive storm dumped more than a foot of rainfall over a two-day period in parts of the North Bay, with wind speeds topping out at more than 90 miles per hour. Peninsula cities were hit hardest by power outages, with upward of 46,000 customers losing power Sunday afternoon.
In the Mountain View area, Peninsula cities received about 2 inches of rainfall between Saturday morning and Monday morning, according to data from the National Weather Service. Winds in Mountain View topped out at around 36 mph on Sunday afternoon, when the biggest gusts struck the region.
The neighboring cities of Los Altos and Sunnyvale got hit with winds of 45 mph and 43 mph, respectively. Further south in the Loma Prieta mountains, wind speeds reached a blustery 88 mph — the highest in Santa Clara County.
Police officials have been tracking problems in Mountain View caused by the storm, including two downed trees, two downed branches and one incident of downed power lines on Petie Way. Fire crews also responded to two reports of wires down, one on California Street in the Shoreline West neighborhood and another on Ehrhorn Avenue in Old Mountain View.
Traffic problems included 14 reported accidents on Sunday alone, as well as nine incidents of traffic hazards in the road, according to the Mountain View Police Department. Reported traffic hazards were dispersed throughout the city, but mostly occurred during the heaviest winds on Sunday afternoon. The hazards were mostly due to branches in the roadway, and there were no major collisions, according to police spokeswoman Katie Nelson.
Storms caused PG&E’s outage map to light up like a Christmas tree on Sunday afternoon, with more than 147,000 customers losing power. Power was restored to nearly half of Peninsula residents as of 6 a.m. Monday morning, with 25,916 customers still affected, PG&E spokesman J.D. Guidi said.
As of Monday morning, a large outage in the Stierlin Estates neighborhood remains, with 206 customers still without power. Stierlin Estates resident Albert Jeans said the area has been blacked out since 3:30 p.m. yesterday, and that neighborhood residents haven’t spotted any noticeable cause for the outage. The utility company had yet to update residents on progress to restore power.
Over the weekend, city officials encouraged residents to report flooding by calling 650-903-6329 and downed trees by calling 650-903-6273. Free sandbags were also available at 231 N. Whisman Road. The city received a total of 38 storm-related calls yesterday, mostly of them related to downed trees, fallen branches and drain issues, according to city spokeswoman Lenka Wright.
Bay City News Service contributed to this report
Thanks for the link to the rainfall totals!