Thousands without power in Bay Area; San Jose hard hit

Power out in much of San Jose

Downed trees and downed power lines took out power for nearly 100,000 PG&E customers in the Bay Area Tuesday morning, with residents in the South Bay suffering the most. James Torrez reports

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Downed trees and downed power lines took out power for nearly 100,000 PG&E customers in the Bay Area at its peak Tuesday morning, with residents in the South Bay comprising nearly half of those outages.

In San Jose's Willow Glen where a power pole fell onto a liquor store, for example, 5,000 customers were in the dark.

And that was just one spot. Trees were falling throughout the region during the fifth round of storms to hit California since Christmas.

"Last night was brutal," said a San Jose resident named James. "It really hit the fan between midnight and 2 o clock in the morning. It woke me up. The dogs were going off and the windows were rattling."

Roads were flooded and impassable as well.

Interstate Highway 280 at the 87 connector, which is what you'd take to get to the Mineta San Jose International Airport, was closed because of flooding.

And the rain isn't done yet.

And the Bay Area residents should expect more on Tuesday.

"There are multiple systems coming through today," KTVU meteorologist Steve Paulson said. "There will be brief breaks and then fast [storm] cycles. We're not done yet."

The big event might even include thunderstorms, hail and funnel clouds.