Break between storms: Bay crews and residents rush to repair damage

As most of the latest showers leave the Bay Area on Thursday evening, the region has a slight pause before the next series of atmospheric rivers hit us.

On Thursday, tens of thousands of people in the Bay Area were still without power, and many more rushed to repair damage caused by recent flooding and wind.

At Pink Onion Restaurant on 14th Street off San Francisco’s Harrison Street, a long-awaited break in the rain means everyone’s on deck, mopping floors and drying furniture.

“It’s a race against time,” explains Pink Onion employee Gabrielle McCaffrey.

McCaffrey explained that two feet of water quickly flooded the restaurant on New Year’s Eve. He said staff responded quickly, but the restaurant was still left with broken refrigerators, spoiled food and damaged plumbing as a result. Additional rains in the following days did not help matters.

“Because we’re a small business, it’s not easy, you know,” McCaffrey said, noting that the cost of closing a restaurant on New Year’s Eve was a problem. cleanup, Pink Onion could reopen for business on Friday.

“We’re just praying for the weather to improve a bit throughout this block,” McCaffrey said, noting that other businesses on 14th Street were also facing flooding.

Many other Bay Area residents, businesses and utilities also rushed to make repairs on Thursday.

In San Francisco, Department of Public Works employees worked to clean up trees that had fallen on 500 feet of MUNI lines at Junipero Serra and Sloat.

PG&E said it was handmade for their crews too.

As of 10:30 pm Thursday, PG&E said 21,173 customers were affected by power outages in the San Francisco Bay Area. Power was restored to tens of thousands of customers throughout the day, with the utility reporting 80,448 outages across the region as of 4:45 am.

PG&E spokeswoman Maira Tostado said the rain break helped crews restore power faster and safer. She explained that the utility currently has more than 3,000 people working to restore power and repair damage, including some help from other cities in Southern California and Canada. In total, Tostado said the storm cut power to more than 500,000 customers, 200,000 of whom were in the Bay Area.

Tostado said one of the problems in restoring power was fallen trees, landslides and saturated soil, making it difficult for crews to work.

“In some cases, our crews restored power, installed new poles, and trees fell around them, so we had to pull them out because they are not safe in these places,” she added.

While drier skies are helping PG&E repairs for now, Tostado acknowledged that expected storms next week could leave some customers without power for extended periods.

“It is possible that some customers may experience outages that last more than 48 hours, in which case they will receive a credit in their account,” Tostado said, adding that customers with any additional PG&E claims are encouraged. submit them online to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

local officials recommending The people of the Bay Area use this break between storms to gather supplies and prepare for the next wave of wind and rain.

After San Francisco Public Works ran out of high-demand free sandbags on Wednesday, sandbags reappeared on Thursday. Residents can take five sandbags with them to one address. These sandbags are available from the gates on Marin and Kansas Streets while supplies last.

The National Weather Service expects the next atmospheric river to arrive in the Bay Area late Friday evening, with flooding and other local impacts lasting into Tuesday.