A rare tornado touched down in Scotts Valley on Saturday, toppling cars and forcing residents to take cover, as a fierce, wind-fueled storm pummeled the rest of the Bay Area and Santa Cruz County.
The South Bay, Peninsula and East Bay witnessed heavy bouts of rain and wind all day, resulting in power outages across the region, but Sunday is expected to be milder, according to the National Weather Service.
The NWS confirmed the 1:30 p.m. tornado but had not determined a severity ranking by evening.
Multiple cars were overturned in and around a shopping district on Mount Hermon Drive, according to the Scotts Valley Police Department. Power lines were also down and roads blocked in all directions near Mount Hermon Road.
Several individuals were transported to nearby trauma centers for evaluation and treatment. While injuries have been reported, there have been no fatalities as of 5 p.m. Saturday, according to the department.
Myrl Wallace was just stepping out of the Target store on Mount Hermon Road with some groceries when the rain began falling hard again.
“After I got through the doors the rain went sideways,” Wallace, 58, of Boulder Creek, said. “I turned around and there was a tornado. It was right there, tearing down these branches. It picked up and moved my car, flipped it sideways and backwards against these trees.”
Wallace’s gray Ford F-150 pickup was crumpled and battered. But at least he was unhurt.
“Oh well, what are you going to do?” Wallace said. “For me, it’s not the end of the world. For others, it’s a lot worse. I’ll be fine.”
Scotts Valley Vice Mayor Derek Timm said the twister flipped several vehicles and blew down branches and trees, including one that fell onto the Scotts Valley Middle School. The harsh winds ripped traffic signal lights off of their support poles, blew down a lamp post in the Scotts Valley Target parking lot and knocked over electrical power poles, cutting off power and snarling traffic throughout the afternoon.
“Luckily, there was no loss of life,” Timm said, praising the quick and professional response of local public safety agencies.
Timm, who grew up in Nebraska and Kentucky where tornados are more common, said Saturday’s event “brings back some not very pleasant memories.” Such events are rare in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The closest thing he recalled was a “roll cloud” — like a sideways tornado — that came with the lightning storm that ignited the CZU Lightning Complex fire in 2020.
“It’s just hard to digest what’s going on,” he said.
Earlier that day, NWS radars indicated strong winds off the coast of San Mateo, meeting conditions that would trigger a tornado warning for San Francisco and northern San Mateo County. The warning, which was the first-ever in San Francisco, went into effect around 5:54 a.m. before being lifted about 20 minutes later. Hefty wind gusts knocked down trees and power lines across the city, blocking major roadways and streets and shocking residents.
Phill Simon and his family were sleeping in their Glen Park home when the screech of tornado alerts going off on their phones woke them up. Then came the sharp puttering of rooftop gravel hitting their windows. A loud booming sound that followed prompted the family to take cover until the alert lifted.
“I was definitely startled,” the longtime San Francisco resident said. “Looking out the window, there was lightning flashing, rumbling thunder. It was kind of apocalyptic. It was crazy.”
California witnesses an average of 11 tornadoes a year — typically during the spring and fall, according to the NWS. Although tornadoes can occur across the state, they are commonly found in the northern Central Valley region.
Flood warnings were issued for several cities across the nine-county region Saturday morning.
Along the Peninsula, Shoreway Road in Belmond was closed to traffic in both directions for several hours due to flooding caused by rain. In the East Bay, rising waters made multiple undercrossings in west Livermore impassable for several hours, according to local police.
In Monterey County, a flood watch went into effect Saturday morning and will last through Sunday afternoon at Carmel River State Beach in Carmel Valley. A coastal flood advisory for areas along the San Francisco and San Pablo bays will remain in effect until Monday afternoon.
Winds between 75-85 mph were recorded by the NWS Saturday, including 83 mph gusts at San Francisco International Airport and 59 mph winds in Oakland. The Monterey Airport also saw high winds of 79 mph.
With the strong winds came toppled trees and lengthy power outages that affected residents from Santa Cruz to Richmond.
Boulder Creek resident Chelsea Montanari woke up early on Saturday and was getting ready for the day when she heard a jolting crash — part of a nearby tree had fallen and smashed through her roof, nearly missing her sleeping 3-year-old son.
“My poor baby was crying and covered in debris,” Montanari said. “A lot of stuff came out from the roof, including rusty nails. Fortunately, everything just missed him except the debris in his hair.”
Living up in the Santa Cruz mountains, Montanari and her family usually see tree branches fall down in feisty weather, but nowhere the size of Saturday morning’s. “We heard lots of stories and knew it was a possibility, but didn’t think it would happen to us,” Montanari said. “Then it did, unfortunately.”
Saturday’s storm also left thousands without power. San Mateo County has 77 outages as of 6:42 p.m. affecting 4,494 people. In downtown Menlo Park neighborhoods, more than 1,000 people experienced power outages, along with customers in parts of Millbrae and downtown Burlingame. By Saturday afternoon, most of the power had been restored according to PG&E.
In Richmond, 289 people are still experiencing power outage while in San Francisco, about 684 people are still without power, both according to PG&E.
Bay Area News Group photographer Karl Mondon contributed to this report.
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Source: www.mercurynews.com