Here's a look at damage after Bay Area storm brought heavy rain, strong wind causing power outages
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The Bay Area faced a Level 2 storm Wednesday with rain and strong gusty winds moving across the Bay Area.
East Bay bracing for rain amid a high wind warning Wednesday
With sprinkles starting to fall on Bay Area commuters Wednesday morning, Alameda County Fire officials are warning people across the East Bay to expect strong winds and brace for flooding in some inland areas.
Division Chief Randall West says now is not the time to be testing driving through standing water.
"Six inches of water, may not be the six inches you think, it could definitely be deeper, so try to avoid those areas where you think you might be able to get through," West said. "If your intuition tells you not to do it, it's probably a good instinct not to go through that flooding."
The National Weather Service issuing a High Wind Warning on Wednesday at 8 a.m. which will remain in effect through Thursday morning.
That's why West is urging people to be ready for power outages.
"Please go out and get batteries, please go out and if you have portable battery chargers and if you have those available, because once your power goes out, you're kind of at the mercy of depending on the batteries and portable cell phone chargers," West said.
It's a storm that's putting a pause on a 225-mile kayaking journey, which the owners of Point Reyes Adventure Company are in the middle of.
"It's not even expert level today, like you shouldn't go out today, with gusts up to 55, nobody should be out there," Liz Wilhelm, co-owner of Point Reyes Adventure Company said.
They're circumnavigating San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun Bays.
In just six days, they've made it a little under 100 miles.
"Once it bumped up over 35, we realized, we're not going to make a whole lot of progress so it's safer for us to really take that day, rest and it's conveniently right in the middle of our trip," Dallas Smith, co-owner of Point Reyes Adventure Company said.
But with more rain and less wind in the forecast for Thursday, they plan to be back out on the water tomorrow.
"Rain's not even that big of an issue for us, like we're kayaking, we're in the water and everything and we've got extra ponchos," Wilhelm said.
If you do come across any downed power lines during this storm, PG&E says do not touch it, assume it is live and call 911 to report it.
LIVE: Track storm with Live Doppler 7
STORM WATCH: Track Bay Area Power Outages
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TIMELINE: Rain and wind are back with Level 2 storm as wet pattern begins
Peninsula
Tree falls on home as rain and strong winds hammer Peninsula
Rain falling throughout the Peninsula Wednesday, as the first in a series of storms makes it way into the Bay Area.
Ahead of the wet weather, PG&E says they spent the last few days getting ready and pre-positioning crews.
"We are flexible as well. We make sure that we have crews that can move to other locations if needed. We have equipment stockpiled at all our yards throughout our service area of Northern and Central California," said PG&E spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian.
Sarkissian says while the utility company's team of meteorologists track the rain in our area, it's actually the winds that can cause the most damage.
Along the San Mateo County coast, the gusts were strong throughout most of the day.
"When we see things like debris that flies through the air that can make contact with our lines, or even things like vegetation, branches or even healthy trees that can come down because of these powerful winds. That's when we start to see the outages," Sarkissian said.
In Menlo Park, those strong winds knocked down several trees onto two homes in a residential area.
One tree laying across the roof of one of the houses.
Next door, another tree hitting the garage and nearby cars.
"The standard recommendations of stay away from downed trees, downed power lines. More things can come down and you never know what's still active out there," said Fire Capt. Brett Bates.
Menlo Park Fire Captain Brett Bates says it's important for people to be take extra precautions over the coming hours.
Besides the potential for more downed trees, he says flooding is also something people should look out for.
"Turn around. Don't go through it. Follow any signage that you see. You just don't know what's under there. If the road's been washed away, how deep the water is, how fast it's moving, even though it looks calm on the top," Bates said.
The biggest impact was felt in Mountain View. At one point, more than 10,000 people were without power.
We spoke with James Davis and his son Trey on Castro Street.
"He was supposed to go on a field trip today to the fire station. But because of the weather, they had to cancel," Davis said.
Fortunately, they didn't lose power.
Despite the on and off rain, they wanted to get out of the house.
"You know, back in the day you could watch a movie or whatever but now especially with him, we got to get him out of the house," Davis said.
North Bay
Heavy rain pounded North Bay with strong gusty winds
Heavy rain pounded the North Bay and strong gusty winds rattled windows.
On Highway 101, electronic billboards reminded drivers to slow down because of high winds.
"It is making it hard to do anything today. It's another factor as driving on the roadway, especially at higher speeds. Wind can push you all over the place. And with the standing water on the roadway, we don't want anyone to hydroplane," said Sgt Adam Schermerhorn with Marin County Sheriff's Office.
"I heard about the high winds. I was kind of surprised, but I now see all the branches swinging around a lot so," said Sara Sass in Downtown Petaluma. "It rattled the windows and stuff."
Atmospheric River storms that swept across the Bay Area this year have been cause for concern.
You might remember the dramatic rescue from early February.
A driver lost control on a rural road near Point Reyes and ended up in a creek in west Marin County.
A sheriff's deputy broke the car's back window and began removing items-to give the woman stuck inside the submerging car as much room to breathe as possible.
The deputy was eventually able to pull the woman out of the car.
Authorities say that should be an important reminder to all of us.
"That water overtook that car in about four minutes --from being halfway up the back window to completely submerging the vehicle. So, you want to avoid those things. Water can rise extremely quickly," said Sgt. Schermerhorn.
