Winds and rain batter parts of Bay Area causing more power outages

LAFAYETTE, Calif. - Wind gusts and pounding rain are back in the Bay Area and people felt the pain of power outages again.

"Every time it storms we lose power," said Richard Worley, a San Bruno resident who was among the 1,100 customers in his neighborhood who finally got power restored after the weather caused an outage.

"With the sump pump we definitely want to make sure that we have power so the garage doesn't flood.," said Worley, who added that he had bought a generator after the series of storms this year continued to knock out power to his area. 

Pacific Gas & Electric says it's all hands on deck this week

"We can have crews coming from any part of our service area from Eureka to Bakersfield," said Tamar Sarkissian, a PG&E spokesperson.

"Primarily what we see during storms is vegetation or debris flying through the air and hitting our equipment, and causing outages," said Sarkissian.

But in downtown Lafayette, crews faced a different problem.. With the downpour, PG&E crews had to pump water out of an underground vault.

"The influx of all this rain that we've been experiencing can actually cause damage to our underground system as well," said Sarkissian.

Some businesses were in the dark for several hours. The restaurant PokeGo had to stop and close up shop, a sign on the door explaining that they had no power.

Other businesses had no internet, no cash registers, no lights, and no heat.

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"It went out today about 1:45 p.m.," said Achalee Phosawadrattana, who said her restaurant Amarind Thai and other businesses in Lafayette have lost power three times this week.

 "We have to close because there's no power, we cannot cook, we cannot turn on the hood, so it's not good for the employees," said Phosawadrattana.

Down the block at Lafayette Pack and Ship,  Sue McKinlay, the co-owner, said they couldn't process packages. 

 "Obviously we lose business for that amount of time,' said McKinlay.

The rainy weather has started to wear on even the most patient people.

"We've all said it's wonderful, but that was probably a month ago and now we're not saying it's wonderful anymore," said McKinlay.

PG&E says it's important to avoid touching any low or downed power lines, make sure to secure lawn furniture and keep any spaces where you are using a generator well-ventilated.