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From: Jim Kornegay (ke6mut{at}thegrid.net)
Date: Fri Nov 08 2002 - 10:50:12 EST
Storm hits with vengeance
It topples trees, delays flights and cuts power -- relief expected late
Saturday
Kevin Fagan, Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, November 8, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/11/08/BA89517.DTL
The first big storm of the season crashed into Northern California on
Thursday, bringing howling winds that produced widespread blackouts, toppled
trees, closed roadways and effectively shut down San Francisco International
Airport for two hours.
The relentless winds and pummeling rains also knocked out traffic lights and
stopped traffic on Bay Area bridges, sent scaffolding plummeting into the
street, and forced a circus to empty its tent of paying customers.
Cars skidded and crashed as roads from Davis to Gilroy -- dry since
spring - - slicked up and pooled under the drenching. Winds slammed tree
limbs into power lines from the Sierra foothills to Monterey, and gusts
knocked over trees and umbrellas and anything else light that wasn't nailed
down.
Winds of up to 70 mph -- just 4 mph less than hurricane force -- were
reported in Fairfield and on the Golden Gate Bridge, according to the
Weather Channel and KTVU meteorologist Bill Martin.
Forecasters predicted the Bay Area would soak in more than 2 inches of rain
by this afternoon. That would bring the region up to normal rainfall,
because virtually no rain has fallen since May.
"We're just catching up," said National Weather Service forecaster Diana
Henderson. "Let's just say I wouldn't leave the car windows open for the
next couple of days unless you really need the car cleaned inside."
The power failures began in waves across the state before dawn, as the storm
moved in off the Pacific and began slapping electrical lines and drenching
connections. Winds gusted up to 50 mph and shut down traffic for more than
two hours Thursday night on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, which is
undergoing earthquake retrofit work. Plywood and other construction
materials were blown onto the lanes and created hazards, a bridge spokesman
said. Shortly after 10 p.m., cars were allowed to resume crossing the bridge
under escort.
Lights were out for a time on the Bay Bridge, on the Waldo Grade north of
the Golden Gate Bridge, and inside the Waldo Tunnel. Drivers said it was a
battle just to keep their cars from jumping lanes.
SFO flights were suspended in mid-evening after winds gusted to 53 mph. Four
planes remained on the ground at 9 p.m., and approaching planes were
instructed to circle the airport or were diverted to Oakland or San Jose,
said airport duty manager Mike Tolle. Runway operations resumed later in the
evening after a two-hour delay.
Elsewhere at the airport, a section of roof and one wall of a huge
corrugated steel cargo building collapsed at about 7:30 p.m. No one was
injured, said airport duty manager Bob Schneider, but the building "appears
to be totaled." The building, located on West Cargo and West Field roads, is
used by Air Canada to consolidate commercial cargo for various flights.
The area was ordered evacuated.
At Pier 70 on the San Francisco waterfront, winds knocked loose a giant
dry-dock structure from its mooring and set it adrift on the bay, the Coast
Guard said. Three tugboats were dispatched to gather and control the
structure.
In Northern and Central California, more than 534,000 customers were without
power in 700 separate storm-related blackouts. In the Bay Area, power was
out at some point to 190,000 customers.
Hardest hit was San Francisco, where 23,000 customers were without power in
parts of the North Beach, Chinatown, Twin Peaks, Noe Valley and Bayview
areas.
The lights also were out to 5,100 customers in Foster City, 5,000 customers
in Sunnyvale, 6,800 customers in Saratoga and Campbell, and thousands more
in other South Bay communities.
"Things have really ramped up," said PG&E spokeswoman Christy Dennis. "We're
working as hard as we can, but this is a very significant storm and the
outages are widespread."
The opening performance of the famed Cirque du Soleil circus was canceled
after fierce winds whipped off the top of the colorful canvas tent near
Pacific Bell Park.
Concern for the safety of patrons and cast members because of the high winds
caused the cancellation, a Cirque representative said.
The winds buffeted the sides and top of the smaller concession tents in
which the opening night crowd of 2,600 waited for entry to the big top until
the announcement was made, 30 minutes after the show had been scheduled to
start.
Many complained of lack of access to the toilets located between the
concession tents and the big top. Only one toilet was available in the area
outside the concession tents, and a long line of people waited in the rain.
Of primary concern to the circus was the safety of its aerial artists, the
representative said. The aerial equipment is built into the structure of the
big top and could have been affected by the high winds. This was the first
cancellation of a Cirque du Soleil show because of wind since a performance
of "Alegria" in New York City's Battery Park in 1995.
The winds also knocked down a South of Market scaffolding and left it lying
in the middle of Harrison Street, near Seventh Street.
Trees toppled and storm drains backed up throughout the Bay Area. In
Cupertino, a giant tent covering an outdoor nursery broke free and sailed
merrily through town like a free spirit.
The National Climate Prediction Center concluded that El Nino, the
cantankerous weather pattern that occasionally delivers winterlong
drenchings from the Pacific, probably will make Northern Californians' lives
wetter than usual through next spring. But nobody was ready to make an
absolute determination yet.
"We won't really know until early next year until it starts to hit -- if it
hits," said National Weather Service forecaster Will Pi.
This round of rain and wind is expected to continue until Saturday night, Pi
said.
By then, as much as 4 feet of snow should have fallen above the 7,000-foot
level in the Sierra. Several inches already have coated the slopes, and the
heaviest snowfall is expected today.
"It's looking pretty darn good, and at this rate we could have one of our
earliest official openings ever," said Eric Brandt, spokesman for Squaw
Valley ski resort at Lake Tahoe.
Chronicle staff writers Rick DelVecchio, Michael Cabanatuan, Meredith May
and Pamela J. Podger, plus theater critic Robert Hurwitt, columnist Rob
Morse and photographer John O'Hara, contributed to this report. / E-mail
Kevin Fagan at kfagan{at}sfchronicle.co
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle. Page A - 19
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