Thousands of Californians lose power as storm rolls in, many celebrate rain
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - It was a soggy wet day in the Bay Area, but that didn’t bother Patrick Phillip, who parks cars in downtown Santa Rosa.
He had rain gear and a big umbrella.
"Couple more months, it’s going to be 100 degrees, so I’m enjoying this right now," Phillip said.
KTVU spotted several people who appeared to be unprepared, dodging the rain downtown.
Others soaked it all in.
"Oh, it's great. Love it. Absolutely love it. Like down in San Diego, we don’t get a lot of rain," Kallison Leahy said. "So, when we’re up here, we gotta take advantage of it."
Out on the coast, surf’s up in Pacifica.
"Anything over like 7 to 8 feet I’m just like ‘no,’ and I think it’s supposed to be like 8 or 9 feet," Bill Rothrum told KTVU while holding his surfboard. "I don’t know about here, but yeah that’s like four times what I want to do."
PG&E has their yards, like the one in San Rafael, stocked with the type of equipment that typically gets damaged in a storm, including power poles.
The utility company warned that fallen trees could be an issue that could knock down power lines.
Strong winds, rain to return to Bay Area
Prepare for the rain to return to the Bay Area on Wednesday afternoon, after taking a break for Christmas when family and friends gathered under dry skies.
"PG&E has a plan, and we encourage our customers to have one as well…we want everyone to treat downed power lines as live. Stay away from them," PG&E North Coast Region Vice President Dave Canny said.
Back in Santa Rosa, kids like Patrick Ryan have a positive outlook.
He just loves this kind of weather.
"Because it feels nice," 13-year-old Ryan said. "It’s only once a month that we get it ish, and it just feels good on your body."
According to PG&E, there were some 7,000 customers without power in San Francisco on Wednesday morning.
By 5 p.m., less than 100 customers were still in the dark.
PG&E estimated the lights would be back by 9 p.m., but it depends on where you’re at.
To check power outages in your neighborhood, go to the PG&E website and click on outages.
You can type in your address for more exact restoration timing when the power goes out.