Rain knocks out power around Bay Area

Thousands of people in several East Bay cities lost power overnight due to the rain. PG&E crews have been working non-stop this morning to get everyone on line.

Rain boots and umbrellas also made their first appearance in months as the Bay Area finally got a little bit of rain.

"We're super excited it's raining. It hasn't rained in so long. We are just worried it's never going to rain again," said Melissa Mangini of Berkeley.

Instead of dashing from door to door under umbrellas, people were strolling the streets in the rain, and we didn't hear any complaints.

"We usually don't walk in the rain. We would be huddling in the coffee shop but it feels great to be out here," Mangini said.

"It's wonderful. My wife has this beautiful garden and we went out and celebrated this morning. We walked around and looked at all the happy plants," said Stuart Schneck of Oakland.

It wasn't all celebratory. The rain knocked the power out for almost 12,000 East Bay customers. PG&E says after a dry season, dust and dirt accumulates on the power lines. A heavy rain would wash it right off, but a light rain turns it to mud and mud conducts electricity. Workers dealt with pole fires and outages all morning long.

The rain also added an element of surprise at the Tilden Park seniors' golf tournament.

"It's unfortunate. We play a winter league and a summer league and it hasn't rained for two years on any of our matches and this is the last day of summer league and it's actually raining," said golfer Gordon Cousins.

Some players didn't show up, but those who did planned to make the best of it.

"We need the rain, so the golf is secondary," said Cousins.