Fierce winds and rain swept Marin Tuesday afternoon, downing trees across the county and knocking out power to hundreds of residences.
Wind gusts reached 68 mph on Wolfback Ridge in Sausalito, 58 mph near Nicasio Reservoir and 56 mph near Woodacre, said Miles Bliss of the National Weather Service.
Bliss called the storm a “bomb cyclone,” a counterclockwise rotating low-pressure system that decreased in pressure as it moved over land. Peak gusts hit 10mph more than expected, with the highest concentration centered on the Marin Headlands.
In San Anselmo, a large tree fell on Jordan Avenue around 4:30 p.m., damaging two neighboring homes, Ross Valley and County Fire Department Chief Jason Weber said. Nobody was injured.
“That just goes to show how saturated our soils are,” Weber said. “If you put wind on it, you see big trees fall down. We just want people to be careful.”
Rain gauges in Novato and at Samuel P. Taylor State Park in west Marin recorded 1.22 inches of rainfall during the 24-hour period that ended at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Bliss said. Other precipitation totals for the period included 1.1 inches at Kentfield, 0.84 inches at San Rafael, 0.8 inches at Mount Tamalpais, and 0.7 inches at Sausalito.
Battalion Chief Todd Overshiner of the Marin County Fire Department said a home at 9 Sylvan Way in Woodacre was hit by a fallen tree around 2:45 p.m. time, but no injuries were reported. Power lines were also out at the front of the property, which he described as a rental property.
Overshiner said the damage would likely run in “hundreds of thousands of dollars.” He said a tree fell into a septic tank in the same house during a storm a week ago.
Also in Woodacre, power lines on Park Street and Conifer Way fell into a tree, he said.
In Marin City, a tree fell into an occupied apartment building at 52 Buckelev St. at 4:45 p.m., Overshiner said. No injuries were reported.
Reports of downed trees also came from Fairfax, Tiburon, Novato and Sausalito, Overshiner said.
A pedestrian crosses Grant Avenue in Novato, California during the morning rain on March 21, 2023. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)
In Sausalito, around 2:15 p.m., a tree fell on Bridgeway and Nevada Street, said Battalion Commander Doug Patterson of the Southern Marin Fire Protection District. The city reported that 1,778 meters of power were lost in Sausalito, Fort Baker and the Marin Headlands.
Patterson said the intersection of Highway 101 and Shoreline Highway in Mill Valley was submerged by high tide. Two vehicles and their occupants became stuck in the area. One was able to leave the area and one was rescued, Patterson said.
Patterson also reported trees and wires on Harrison Avenue, Sausalito Avenue, and San Carlos Avenue. He said a 65-foot sailboat broke away from Schoonmaker Point Marina, prompting a response from the Tiburon fireboat and the Coast Guard.
California Highway Patrol Officer Darrel Horner said there were multiple reports of collisions on the freeway during the storm.
Winds are expected to ease overnight, and parts of the county could get another 0.1 to 0.3 inches of rain Wednesday night, Bliss said.
Elsewhere in the Bay Area, a driver died when a tree fell on his moving vehicle on Alpine Road in Portola Valley, according to the California Highway Patrol.
It wasn’t immediately clear if a previous fatal accident on Highway 17 had been caused by the weather, but trees had fallen “everywhere,” said Cecile Juliette, a spokeswoman for Cal Fire.
Ben Lomond fell 1.81 inches in the 24 hours through 3 p.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service reported. Another 1.77 inches fell at Big Basin State Park. San Jose Mineta International Airport was 0.61 inches, with 0.42 inches at Oakland International Airport, 0.46 inches in downtown San Francisco, and three-quarters of an inch at the Concord Pavilion.
Wind gusts reached speeds of 78 miles per hour in Los Gatos and on Mt. Umunhum, while Oakland International Airport registered gusts of 74 miles per hour. A gust on Mt. Allison near Fremont reached 81 miles per hour, the weather service said.
More than 100,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers lost power as of 4 p.m. Tuesday.
The Bay Area News Group contributed to this report.
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