SAN FRANCISCO—On Sunday, January 8, a storm in San Francisco caused airport delays and collapsed trees throughout the city.
Heavy rain has been affecting other large portions of northern California along the coast, and eastward to the Sierra Nevadas. Thousands of Santa Cruz residents were without power due to the storm. The storm was predicted to move up north to San Francisco, soaking the city with 2-4 inches of rainfall before coming back down through Santa Cruz.
According to the Flightstats, all flights that were arriving between 8:30 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. on January 8 at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) would be delayed an average of 276 minutes, with departure delays of 16 to 30 minutes, all due to weather conditions.
Yosemite National Park was evacuated on Friday, January 6 and closed to new visitors at 5 p.m. that evening.
Areas in the Pacific Northwest are experiencing harsh weather due to Winter Storm Iras, which has caused icy and snowy streets throughout cities in Washington and Oregon. San Francisco’s California Highway Patrol has urged drivers to take their time driving in the rain.
In San Ramon, a 56 year-old woman was killed by a falling tree that had been pushed over by winds that exceeded 50 mph. Vehicles have been reportedly crushed by falling trees in San Francisco, and a tree collapsed on an apartment complex in Sunnydale. A homeless man in Golden Gate Park was left trapped from a collapsed tree on Sunday. He was rescued and taken to a local hospital to be treated for hypothermia. Another tree had toppled onto the tracks of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) on Sunday.
A scaffold on the 700 block of Market Street collapsed around 2 p.m. , causing the San Francisco Fire Department to issue a warning for patrons and motorists to avoid the avoid area.
