Power outages spread across the peninsula on Tuesday as atmospheric flow brings rain and high winds
A man died after a tree fell on his car in Ladera, near Portola Valley, around 1:30 p.m. shortly after strong winds and rain increased on Tuesday afternoon, March 21.
He was traveling eastbound on Alpine Road near La Cuesta Road when strong winds downed a large tree, which fell on his car, CHP official David LaRock said.
While crews tried to remove the man from the white van he was driving, three other trees fell in the same area, narrowly missing rescue workers and vehicles at the scene, according to Woodside Fire Protection District fire chief Rob Lindner and LaRock .
No one else was in the van with the man and no other injuries were reported, Linder said.
Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene after emergency workers removed large branches from the car to get to him.
The CHP does not have an estimated time for the reopening of the west and east lanes of Alpine Road west of Highway 280, LaRock said.
Outages in Redwood City
Thousands of Redwood City residents are without power as fierce winds up to 60 miles per hour and torrential rain pour across the peninsula from the atmospheric river peak on Tuesday. PG&E customers in Farm Hill, Redwood Oaks, Woodside Plaza, North Fair Oaks, Friendly Acres and some areas of Stambaugh-Heller have been without power for the past few weeks in the Bay Area’s recent string of storm-related power outages. At least 43,489 PG&E customers across the peninsula are groping in the dark.
A wind warning is in effect through 9 p.m. Tuesday throughout the Bay Area, which the National Weather Service says is expected to experience power outages and tree smashing. Wind speeds are estimated at 25 to 35 mph and gusts are forecast to reach 80 mph.
Pacific Gas & Electric said today’s storm was the 14th major storm event in its service area in the past 75 days and last week’s storm was the most significant since 1995 in terms of impacting Bay Area customers.
About 1,050 PG&E customers in the Woodside and Emerald Hills neighborhoods of Redwood City are without power as of 2:34 p.m. due to an outage that began about 1:47 p.m., according to the utility’s outage map. There is no estimated time of recovery.
Stanford University Redwood City reported a power outage on Twitter around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, but then said power had been restored but remained unstable.
About 726 customers were without power further west in Menlo Park as of 3 p.m
According to FireDispatch.com, Woodside Fire was also responding to a stake fire on Glenwood Road in Woodside.
The Menlo Park Fire Protection District responded to a fallen tree on El Camino Real and Renato Court at 2:15 p.m
Menlo Park Fire was at the scene of a stake fire on Almendral and Austin Avenues at approximately 1:40 p.m. The Menlo Park Fire Protection District has also responded to sparking wires at 190 Fair Oaks Lane in Atherton at 2:20 p.m
According to ZoneHaven, the lights at Valparaiso Avenue and El Camino Real in Atherton are off.
In Woodside, La Honda Road is closed to traffic from Portola Road to Fox Hill Road and on Mountain Home Road from Highway 84 to Portola Road, according to ZoneHaven.
Airport and Transportation Delays
Bay Area airports reported flight delays and cancellations Tuesday due to wet and windy weather conditions.
About 300 flights have been delayed and 27 flights have been canceled at San Francisco International Airport. Delays at SFO average around 70 minutes.
Oakland International Airport has reported one canceled arrival and 24 delayed departures over 30 minutes.
San Francisco Bay Ferry services are suspended due to choppy waters. Caltrans will close Highway 101 in both directions for 60 minutes at 11 p.m. Tuesday night between Hillsdale and Ralston, according to Assemblyman Diane Papan while PG&E replaces the cables.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
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