SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Dangerous winds are blowing through the Bay Area, closing roads and uprooting trees.
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The winds are part of the region's twelfth atmospheric river this winter, a unique phenomenon that has saturated the land, causing flooding, landslides and damaging roads.
Winds of up to 40 miles per hour are expected to continue through the evening and are anticipated to rise to 70 miles per hour in the Santa Cruz Mountains, prompting officials to close all lanes of Highway 17.
"Once we saw these winds start to materialize out over the ocean, we wanted to make sure the people in Monterey as well as Santa Cruz County were prepared that these winds were coming," said National Weather Service Meteorologist David King.
The NWS has issued a high wind warning for Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties as well as Coastal San Mateo and the Santa Cruz Mountains. A severe thunderstorm warning has also been issued for Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley and Capitola.
"When we were prompting the severe thunderstorm warning, we actually saw down at the valley floor in Santa Cruz winds that were gusting 59 to 60 miles per hour," King said. "We had numerous reports of Los Gatos, as well as Mount Umunhum in Santa Clara County, that were gusting at 78 miles an hour, so these winds as they approached and got over the mountain top they accelerated."
The storm turned deadly in the South Bay when a tree fell on a van on Alpine Road and La Cuesta Drive, just off the I-280 in Portola Valley.
Winds have also knocked out power to 88,000 PG&E customers. The utility said the outages are affecting about 32,000 customers in both the East and South Bay, as well as another 21,000 along the Peninsula.
The Crockett-Carquinez Fire Department reported that an Amtrak train hit a tree and derailed in Port Costa. There were no reported injuries from the crash, but the rail service is stopped.
King said the worst of the wind is behind us, but Bay Area residents should expect around 30 to 40 mile per hour wind until around 5 p.m.
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