Power outage, downed trees cause Foothill-DeAnza College to cancel classes

LOS ALTOS HILLS, Calif. - Downed trees and a power outage led Foothill-DeAnza Community College to cancel classes and sports activities Thursday evening.

The power went out twice on campus.

An alert went out notifying students through their mobile devices

Campus police said there are normally 20 to 30 classes at night and estimated that 500 students were affected.

"We had our evening students that were coming in and out of an abundance of caution,
we canceled the classes for tonight," said Sgt. Jeff McCoy with the Foothill-DeAnza Community College District Police

McCoy said the power first went out shortly before 4:30 p.m. PG&E restored it at about 6 p.m. But it went out again about 8:15 p.m.

 McCoy estimated that winds gusted up to more than 50 miles per hour

In neighboring Palo Alto, Mike Ribero shared video of the Adobe Creek which runs behind his home.

"If you fall in there, you're in trouble. And that's how much it is.  Usually in the summer, it's completely dry," Ribero said 

There's storm damage to his home from January.  He's concerned about flooding and falling trees. 

"It's been nonstop.  The ground is soaked from all the moisture. It's just super-saturated right now," said Ribero.

At a supermarket parking lot in Los Altos, customer Steve Wurzburg said he braved the elements to buy a Duraflame logs after he lost power at home.  

He said he bought the items to try to stay warm.

"Last time, our power was out for about two days so we figured we'd be prepared," he said. 

"I like the rain sometimes. But when it starts to impact daily life, it becomes a little annoying," said Paul McBurney of Palo Alto.

Back on campus, students, staff and faculty are advised to check on the school's social media for the latest updates 

"We'll be taking a good look at the weather forecast and planning appropriately," said McCoy.

Campus police officers said they're patrolling school grounds to take note of fallen trees and other problems. 

As of Thursday night, school officials said classes will resume Friday, but whether that happens will likely depend on if the weather continues to cause problems.

Amber Lee is a reporter with KTVU. Email Amber at Amber.Lee@Fox.com or text/leave message at 510-599-3922. Follow her on Facebook @AmberKTVU,  Instagram @AmberKTVU  or Twitter @AmberKTVU