SAN FRANCISCO
The San Francisco Bay Area, battered by brutal rainstorms in recent days, appears to have emerged relatively unscathed by the historic downpours.
Joe D’Alessandro, president and CEO of the San Francisco Travel Association issued this statement on the rain storm that recently passed through San Francisco:
“The storm that pelted San Francisco and the Bay Area with much-needed rain on Dec. 11 has passed and the city is getting back to normal.
While some customers lost power, Pacific Gas & Electric is working around the clock to return service to all homes and businesses. Power was returned to the most popular visitor neighborhoods by 8 p.m. Thursday evening.
All city schools are open again on Friday, Dec. 12. The City of San Francisco has closed the Emergency Operations Center for this event.
Through it all, Moscone Center remained opening and operating.
Clear skies are forecast for the weekend. Rain is projected for next week but on a much more normal scale.
Though this may have been one of the strongest storms to hit the area in decades, it hasn’t dampened San Francisco’s holiday spirit. Now the streets and treetops glisten with rain and good weather this weekend will be perfect for all of the celebrations and activities."
Meanwhile, Doug Yakel, public information officer at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), said that there had been a total of 22 cancellations by mid-day Friday despite improving weather, though most of these had been short-haul commuter flights along the West Coast. He added that current delays Friday were averaging about 45 minutes.
According to reports, while 440,000 PG&E customers throughout California lost power—including 208,000 in the Bay Area—by late Friday morning, only about 2,000 customers in the Bay Area were still without power; PG&E projected that power would be returned to nearly all remaining customers by late Friday evening.
Areas to the north appeared to be less fortunate than San Francisco proper, including the town of Healdsburg in Sonoma County, which experienced severe downtown flooding and extensive flood damage.
