SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – A rare "bomb cyclone" slammed into the Bay Area yesterday, bringing heavy rain and high winds, and causing death and injuries from falling trees and debris.
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Winds gusting over 80 miles per hour ravaged the Bay Area Tuesday afternoon. Two people died from falling trees — one in Walnut Creek when a tree fell on a passing car and another on I-280 near Portola Valley.
California Highway Patrol spokesperson David Hill said one of the deaths happened just as fire crews were arriving on scene. “The fire department crews worked pretty tirelessly to try to get to the occupant of the van, but while they were working more tree branches and large limbs came down and nearly struck some of the firefighters,” he reported.
Another four people suffered serious injuries in San Francisco, also from falling trees.
130,000 people statewide are without electricity this morning. The winds were strong enough to shatter glass in high rises in downtown San Francisco. Mission Street is closed between First Street and Fremont, as crews were called out to the Salesforce Tower Wednesday morning to assess if a window broke during the storm.
Just a few blocks away, caution tape remains around 50 California St. where crews are on scene repairing a window that shattered and another that is at risk of breaking. A couch was even captured in a video blowing off the balcony of a high rise.
The Lefty O'Doul Bridge outside of Oracle Park also sustained major damage after a trio of runaway barges slammed into it.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Braydon Murdock told KCBS Radio this was a "very rare" weather event. "That's actually something you see a lot more in tropical cyclones, which could turn into hurricanes," he explained. "There's multiple accesses of rotation and in this case they kind of set off of each other."
The tail end of the storm is heading out of the Bay Area Wednesday morning. There's still a chance of showers today, but another storm event is forecast to hit next week.
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