Stormy weather results in power outages, more fallen trees

Friday night's stormy weather resulted in power outages for hundreds of Walnut Creek residents and the closure of a state highway for hours.

On Highway 13 in Oakland, just south of the Park Ave. Exit, a large tree came down around 10 p.m. Friday night and blocked the southbound lanes of the highway.

CHP responded to find that at least five cars had crashed into the tree, two of which had to be towed. The other three of those cars were not damaged and drove away from the scene.

Caltrans blamed the fallen tree on the stormy weather.

?We've been having a bit of rain here in the last week or so, and the ground is pretty well saturated right now, so it?s probably an ongoing problem throughout the Bay Area,? said Caltrans spokesperson Larry Cooper. ?

Caltrans closed down the highway for about two hours while they cut up and cleared the tree.

The scene was the same spot where another fallen tree is to blame for killing a UC Berkeley student.

Early Thursday morning, 19-year-old Kevin Lacanlale was driving when he hit the tree. Police say he was standing by his car when a Ford pickup truck hit the same tree, became airborne and hit Lacanlale, who later died at the scene.

After the incident Friday night, Caltrans officials were asking drivers to slow down and be aware of their surroundings during the wet weather, which was expected to continue through the next week.

Hours later on Saturday morning, PG&E crews were busy in a Walnut Creek neighborhood where about 540 customers were without power.

The outage started just after 7 a.m. in the area of Homestead Ave. and Shell Ridge Open Space.

PG&E crews were on the scene soon afterward learning of the outage and by 8 a.m., they had restored power to all but 173 customers using a backup power source.

Source: http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/stormy-weather-results-power-outages-more-fallen-t/nLWmc

slither slither chris christie naacp glen campbell grand canyon skywalk jerusalem artichoke