San Francisco braces for heavy rain, possible flooding
In the heart of San Francisco's Union Square, the Winter Walk is still shining, even as rain moved in ahead of a strong Tuesday night storm.
For Brownie Simms, cofounder of condiment company The Final Sauce, the weather hasn't dampened the holiday spirit.
"This is our last popup of the year, so we ended the fourth quarter great," Simms said.
The womenowned business sold out of nearly all of its condiments and sauces. Simms said the event setup helped vendors.
"The way they set this up this is how it should be at most events," she said, adding, "If you're willing to be outside in the cold, you're willing to make it."
But while vendors are braving the elements with optimism, the city is preparing for something more serious.
A massive power outage over the weekend left roughly a third of San Francisco in the dark, stretching emergency crews thin just as another round of storms arrives. The Department of Emergency Management says it has now fully shifted into storm mode.
"We feel ready to go," said Mary Ellen Carroll, the department's executive director. "It does take a little extra planning when these things happen over the holiday, just to make sure we're fully covered on response."
Carroll said the backtoback emergencies have tested the city's resources.
"The outage and then the storms backtoback definitely put more pressure on resources and coordination. We didn't have a notice for that, the power outage."
Even before the blackout, the city had already been preparing for the holidayweek storm system.
"We have known about this weather system since before that outage," she said. "So we were already thinking and planning for the holiday week and the storm coming."
But the timing meant many of the same staff were pushed to their limits.
"A lot of people worked almost three days straight on the outage to ensure that San Franciscans were safe and got the support they needed," Carroll said.
With more rain and wind on the way, she expects additional outages.
"It's very likely we'll have more stormrelated outages, and that's normal," she said. "But it's not going to feel great for people who were out for two or three days."
While thousands of residents lost power in their homes, the city is also focused on protecting those without homes at all.
"There are extra beds available for people to come in," Carroll said. "And we've been doing outreach for days to make sure that anyone who's willing to come in, we have a spot for them."
Outreach teams will be back on the streets early Wednesday to check on people who may be vulnerable as the next storm arrives.
"We will be out in the street first thing tomorrow morning again with our outreach teams to look for folks that might be vulnerable," she said.
