Strong Winds Topple Trees, Knock Out Power In Marin, North Bay

NORTH BAY, CA — Strong winds knocked down trees and power lines, causing power outages over the weekend across the North Bay and Bay Area.

As of Monday morning, more than 8,400 Pacific Gas and Electric Company customers remained without power in the Bay Area. Nearly 65,000 PG&E customers in the Bay Area were affected at the peak of the wind storm that saw gusts of up to 90 mph Sunday at some North Bay higher elevations.

As of 6 a.m. Monday, about 5,660 customers in the East Bay still had no power, along with 2,136 in the South Bay, 445 along the Peninsula and 246 in the North Bay, PG&E spokeswoman Karly Hernandez said.

That was down from about 28,000 customers as of 10 p.m. Sunday, according to the utility.

On Sunday, the Central Marin Fire Department reported that several trees had fallen in the Christmas Tree area, causing several power outages.

By 10 a.m. Monday, only a few scattered outages remained in Marin County. There were 14 customers without power in Tiburon, three in San Rafael and one in Fairfax, according to PG&E's outage webpage.

The windy weather had mostly died down by late Monday morning, with the National Weather Service's wind advisory for most of the Bay Area expiring at 7 a.m.

The wind advisory, however, remains in effect through 11 a.m. Tuesday for the North Bay mountains. Breezy conditions will remain for lower elevations Monday morning, weather officials said.

"Use extra caution when driving, especially if operating a high profile vehicle," weather officials advised. "Secure outdoor objects."

Bay City News Service and Kristina Houck/Patch contributed to this report.