The power is out up and down the Coastside. Safeway in Half Moon Bay and Pacifica, and Rite Aid in Half Moon Bay are the only stores open in Half Moon Bay right now, and the are open only for emergency supplies, such as batteries, candles, bottled water and charcoal. Customers are not allowed in the stores, but employees are selling supplies out of the entrance foyers, accepting cash only, and sending runners to the back of the store for refrigerated items.
The Review is reporting that the Half Moon Bay Police are asking people to stay indoors. The Chronicle says that half million people have lost power in the storms.
“The real strong wind gusts are the other big story,” said weather service forecaster Charles Bell. “Today seems like one of those days when if you can stay home, it’s recommended.”
Gusts of 107 mph were measured on Kregor Peak near Clayton in Contra Costa County, the weather service said. The wind hit 70 mph on the Golden Gate Bridge, 78 mph on Angel Island and 76 mph on Twin Peaks in San Francisco
Hundreds of thousands of people have lost power since the storm swept ashore early today, and the Peninsula has been hit particularly hard, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said. As of 11:30 a.m., 518,000 customers were without power in the region, including 119,000 in San Mateo County.
“We expect some customers to remain without power tonight and into tomorrow,” PG&E spokesman David Eisenhauer said. “There is a lot of work still to do.”
Mysteriously, Montara seems to the be the only place on the Coastside with power right now.
PG&E has a toll-free number for people to report outages - (800) 743-5002.
Yet people will continue to whine that it costs too much to underground the utilities. I think that amortized over a couple of decades, we’d all save money by undergrounding the utilities.