Bay Area seeing downed trees, widespread power outages as storm slams region

The atmospheric river that arrived Sunday battered the Bay Area with strong winds and heavy rain, causing trees to fall across the region and knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of residents.

Widespread power outages were still reported as of 10 p.m. Sunday across the Bay Area, although some areas were slowly being restored.

As of 10 o'clock there were still 321,748 PG&E customers without power.

The South Bay continued to lead the way in outages, at 106,926 customers, down from 139,692 at 7 p.m.

North Bay outages were affecting 83,797 customers, down from 94,201 at 7 p.m., followed by the Peninsula with 73,772 customers, down from 81,647 at 7 p.m. The East Bay was experiencing outages to 35,994 customers, down from 53,975 at 7 p.m.

San Francisco has seen an increase of outages, from 20,031 customers at 7 p.m. to 21,259 at 10 p.m.

Outages peaked at 7 p.m. with 389,546 customers without power across the Bay Area.

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Additionally, AlertSF reported at 3:32 p.m. that there's a power outage on the west side of Treasure Island and on Yerba Buena Island.  

The estimated number of houses impacted are 200 to 300 units. San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is investigating the cause at the outage location. 

There was no estimated time of restoration. 

PG&E said winds were likely to blow debris and vegetation onto power lines, causing outages and downed lines. 

Sunday evening, the Sonoma County Office of Education announced that the following schools and school districts would be closed Monday, Feb. 5, due to power outages or hazardous conditions related to Sunday's storm.  

• Fort Ross Elementary (damage to school from storm, access issues caused by storm, power outage)
• Guerneville School District (power outage, flooded roads, and other storm-related issues) 
• Horicon School District (hazardous travel conditions related to the storm) 
• Kashia School District (power outage and other storm-related issues) 
• Montgomery Elementary (power outage, downed trees, and other storm-related issues) 
• Two Rock Union School District (power outage) 

Schools will not be holding virtual classes. The announcement noted that school districts and independent charters can make their own decisions on closures and sometimes alert families before the Sonoma County Office of Education issues sends a news release. Additional information is available online at SCOE.org.

Across the Bay Area, downed trees and power lines have been causing issues for drivers and residents. Emergency officials are even warning people to avoid walkways near trees and to avoid travel if possible as roadways are being blocked by downed trees. 

The fire department in Bolinas is asking residents to shelter-in-place due to storm-related hazards, the agency said at 4:45 p.m. Sunday. 

Numerous power lines and trees are down throughout the area, Bolinas Fire said. Similar issues were being reported in Pleasant Hill and across the South Bay.

In San Francisco, a large tree fell and brought down power and Muni lines in the area of Fillmore, between Golden Gate Avenue and Turk Street. All lanes in the area were closed as a result. 

The rain has also caused some flooding in parts of San Francisco. The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said there was flooding near Market and 18th streets. 

The heavy rain caused a hillside to collapse, sending a tree downhill toward the roadway. It blocked the westbound direction of Market Street.

The agency said there was flooding near Haight Street and Buchanan, as well.

Crews from San Francisco Public Works are hard at work throughout the city because of the damage. 

"Our tree crews, undeterred by the heavy rains, are out responding to downed trees, like this acacia on Forest Side in West Portal," public works tweeted.

In the North Bay, a toppled tree also blocked Highway 101 lanes, just south of Santa Rosa, near Todd Road. CHP reported three large trees briefly blocking Petrified Forest Road in Calistoga.

And in the South Bay, a downed electrical line in Palo Alto caused Embarcadero Road to be briefly closed between Louis and Greer roads. A tree 

Travel Impacts

The big storm caused inbound and outbound travel at SFO to be delayed. Flight tracking website, FlightAware showed there were 279 delays total and 118 canceled flights. The storm is causing planes to need to use differing runways and the wind is also factoring into delays.

Downed trees across tracks have disrupted service to Caltrain customers in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties Sunday afternoon and evening. 

The north and southbound tracks 200 feet south of the San Antonio Station in Mountain View have halted service to that station as of 3:45 p.m. due to a downed tree.

In Burlingame, a second tree fell onto the tracks at around 5:36 p.m. 

SamTrans is honoring Caltrain tickets in Burlingame and The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is also honoring Caltrain tickets for anyone wishing to go north or south of the San Antonio Station. 

Caltrain said at 6 p.m. that it will be several hours before the trees can be completely removed.

In Walnut Creek, police said Ygnacio Valley Rd. was closed in both directions between Walnut Blvd. and Marchbanks Dr. due to power lines down in roadway. Residents are being asked to stay away from the area. There is no estimated time for the road to be reopened.

Throughout the Bay Area, BART is operating trains at a slower speed due to the weather.

Bay City News contributed to this report.