Powerful California storm knocks out power, delays flights, A storm expected to be one of the windiest and rainiest in five years swept across the San Francisco Bay Area on Thursday, knocking out power to tens to thousands and delaying travel by air, train and ferry.
Pacific Gas & Electric is reporting outages are widespread across the Bay Area due to weather, but officials weren't immediately available to give a specific number of outages.
Nearly 100,000 PG&E customers were in the dark from the Golden Gate Bridge through the Financial District, CBS San Francisco reports. A transformer blew out at high-rise hotels like the Grand Hyatt. The Embarcadero Center was shut down.
A spokesman for Bay Area Rapid Transit says a PG&E transformer appeared to have malfunctioned near the system's Montgomery Street station. Jim Allison said the station has been shut to both BART trains and trains from the city's Muni transit system and there's no estimate on when it will reopen.
The National Weather Service said the frontal rain band produced widespread flash flooding with rainfall rates of more than 1 inch per hour.
In the small, farm town of Healdsburg, cars stalled on flooded streets. Laura Cobar, a Safeway employee, said the water was rising and she feared it might enter the grocery store.
"We got kids canoeing in our parking lot, and there's water up to our doors," she said.
High winds canceled some ferry service east of San Francisco. At least 10 ferry departures around the region were canceled Thursday due to weather conditions, the San Francisco Bay Ferry reported on its website.
One rider was taking it in stride early Thursday.
"I know it's a big storm supposedly but they're treating it like it's a hurricane," said Malcolm Oubre, a Vallejo resident heading to work as an administrative assistant in San Francisco. It's just "lots of rain, lots of wind."Brief gusts of wind blasted the Golden Gate Bridge and high waves were crashing.
The National Weather Service recorded hurricane force winds of 135 miles per hour near Interstate 80 just west of Truckee, California.
Some flights arriving at San Francisco International Airport were facing delays averaging three hours and 40 minutes, The Federal Aviation Administration reported on its website.
The storm could cause debris slides, especially in areas affected by this year's intense and widespread wildfires. Big waves are expected along the coast, and ski resorts in the northern Sierra Nevada could get more than 2 feet of snow.
More than 4 inches of rain was reported in Sonoma County before dawn, and flood warnings were in effect for points along the Russian and Navarro rivers in Mendocino County and the Eel River in Humboldt County, the weather service said. Some tree damage and roadway flooding was reported.
As much as 8 inches of rain could fall on coastal mountains over a 24-hour period, the weather service said.
"It's a short amount of time for that amount of water," forecaster Diana Henderson said. "We are anticipating some localized flooding. maybe some downed trees and downed power lines. It could have an effect on a wide range of people."
Residents rushed to buy emergency supplies, with some stores running out of water, batteries and flashlights. Some cities announced on their Twitter accounts that they had no sandbags or sand left by Wednesday evening.
Some Bay Area stores were reporting shortages of rain boots, KCBS said.
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