Bay Area still cleaning up after weekend storm

Well, it wasn’t a tornado that swept through the Bay Area over the weekend, but high winds and rainfall, downed trees, knocked out power to tens of thousands of customers and left local roads flooded.

The storm that barreled through the Bay Area on Saturday disrupted power to almost 31,000 PG&E customers, the utility said.

The most heavily affected area was the North Bay, which had nearly 20,000 interruptions from tree limbs and other debris falling into power lines and damaging equipment, a PG&E spokesperson said.

The utility said nearly 700 customers lost power in San Francisco, more than 4,600 on the Peninsula, nearly an equal number in the East Bay and about 1,100 in the South Bay.

At the height of storm, about 216,000 customers were without power across the utility's service area in northern and central California, PG&E said in the press release.

The San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department said 73 trees were downed during the storm, more than 50 of them located in Golden Gate Park.

The department closed down golf courses and athletic fields, in addition to popular areas, including Twin Peaks, Pine Lake, Stern Grove, the San Francisco Botanical Gardens and the Japanese Tea Garden. All upcoming outdoor games and events were canceled, due to concerns over falling trees and limbs.

In Scotts Valley, north of Santa Cruz, police said five people were injured when a tornado ripped through the town. Power had been restored to businesses by Sunday morning, and all roads within city limits had reopened.

A wide range of damage, including downed trees, downed power poles, trees stripped of branches, numerous overturned vehicles, and damaged street signs, was inflicted by the storm, according to the National Weather Service.