Please pray for those killed, harmed or injured and their families in the San Francisco area when a storm hit the area last night.
Approximately 9 p.m. on the west coast, storm winds reached their peak as a storm front advanced upon the state of California. Wind gusts up to 65mph knocked down power lines and trees, causing at least two fatalities and leaving as many as 50,000 or more without power. Wind gusts in excess of 50mph, driven by the storm system also hit arid parts of the state to the south according to the National Weather Service.
In Oakland, a city of roughly 400,00 just outside San Francisco, a car struck a fallen tree killing an occupant in the vehicle at roughly 8:30 p.m., police said. Another person was killed, though the exact cause of death was unclear, after a power line was knocked down.
Some 30,900 people were without power in Oakland, 5,500 in Nice, 7,000 in Monte Rio, 5,000 in Santa Rosa, 4,000 in Sonoma, 4,000 in Berkeley and thousands more in other areas in the west coast state according to Pacific Gas and Electric Company early Friday morning.
Rich Thompson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service said; “There may have been some gusts in the 50-55mph range closer to the coast but the strongest winds, including one gust up to 120mph were in the high terrain of the Sierra Nevada (mountains).
