San Francisco residents assess damage after storm brings fierce winds, tornado warning
The Bay Area is cleaning up and drying out after a fierce storm moved through, bringing heavy rain and even a tornado warning. High winds created a lot of damage.
"It was the scariest sound I've ever heard, like this loud roar, best I can describe it," said Carmen Marin.
Marin woke up to heavy rain and strong winds outside her family's Folsom Street home in the Mission, then a crash.
"We came out, two trees were down. Unfortunately, our car was in the way," said Marin.
The family car was totaled by the large trees. Other cars were crushed too.
"When I finally looked at the app, to see what the message was, it said tornado warning," Marin said.
Thousands of people in San Francisco and Daly City got a tornado warning alert early Saturday on their phones. It expired a short time later but many swear it felt like a twister moving through.
"We heard a swirling, going around and around. It came all the way like that," said Ted Ramirez.
"It was a tornado warning, which confused me. Tornados are in Kansas and stuff. I thought it was an earthquake because the house was shaking," said Alex Shader.
A toppled tree took out Shader's front window. The fierce winds left a trail of debris through many parts of the city. San Francisco Department of Public Works crews were on cleanup duty.
"We're doing our best to get it together and make sure everyone is safe. It's a mess everywhere. Trees are falling. It's a mess," said Rashida Saucier from SFDPW.
Across town, large trees fell across Fulton Street. The cleanup lasted for hours. In Golden Gate Park, several giant eucalyptus trees came down on JFK Drive and Chain of Lakes Drive East. On Debose and Misson, a large tree toppled.
The San Francisco Fire Department says it got more than 100 calls for service about the storm.
"Related to the damage in San Francisco, it was spread on the avenues, through downtown San Francisco. Nobody was immune to the effects of the storm," said SFFD Captain Jonathan Baxter.
As of Saturday afternoon, the National Weather Service had not confirmed a tornado touched down in San Francisco.
