A stormy day causes damage in the San Francisco Bay Area
The worst of the storm appeared to be over in the San Francisco Bay Area on Sunday night, after rain drenched the region and winds toppled trees all day.
But residents will have to deal with the consequences for days to come. More than 300,000 homes in the Bay Area were without power Sunday evening, some roads remained closed and there were reports of homes and vehicles being damaged.
While communities in Northern California worried about flooding before the storm hit, the fierce winds ultimately caused more problems.
Towering trees fell on highways, blocking traffic. San Francisco Bay ferries were recalled to shore. An outdoor restaurant in Noe Valley even slid into the middle of the road before bar patrons and neighbors rushed out and pushed it back into place.
In Marin County, winds on mountaintops reached 90 miles per hour, downing trees, power lines and structures.
Trina Baucom, 60, was less than 100 feet from the Point Reyes Lighthouse parking lot when she turned around. Rocks and sand flew across the roadway as her Jeep Wrangler weaved along a narrow road more than 200 feet above the Pacific Ocean.
“It was pretty scary up there,” she shouted over the wind and sideways rain.
On a cattle ranch just east of the lighthouse, William Nunes, 27, watched as the wind ripped a calf pen off the ground and sent it flying into the air and over a hill.
Then the roof of his cattle shed came off. Several sheets of metal up to two cars were torn off and landed next to dozens of wet cows. The metal plates shook violently as the wind threatened to send them flying again, until two ranch hands secured them to the manure-covered ground while Mr. Nunes poured gravel over them to weigh them down.
In San Francisco, one of the storm's most dramatic scenes occurred at 18th and Market Streets, a half-mile west of the Castro District. In mid-morning, a giant pine tree fell on a city-owned hill, causing a small landslide that spilled dirt and tree branches onto the road.
Officials closed that section of Market Street, a major thoroughfare, as they waited hours for arborists to arrive and remove the tree. Sergeant Mike Mitchell of the San Francisco Police Department, who surveyed the scene with other police and traffic control officers, said the city simply did not have enough arborists to maintain the urban forest.
Elsewhere in the city, tree limbs and entire trees fell, including on a car parked near Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, and across a road at Twin Peaks. The Department of Emergency Management warned people “not to walk in parks and other areas with trees.” There have been no reports of injuries from falling trees.
It was also the strong wind, more than the rain, that caused this the last minute cancellation of the San Francisco Half Marathon on Sunday morning, bringing disappointment to some runners and relief to others.
It wasn't all gloomy. In mid-afternoon, during a sunny break between storms, a huge rainbow appeared over the city.