A rare tornado touched down in California on Saturday, flipping cars, damaging roofs, and injuring several people.
According to Bay Area station KRON 4, five individuals were injured by the mid-afternoon tornado. The twister caused damage to street signs, downed trees and power poles.
Several individuals were taken to nearby hospitals in Scotts Valley, a location less than an hour away from San Jose in Santa Cruz County. The current status of their conditions is still unknown.
According to a statement from Scotts Valley Police Chief Scott Garner, the Scotts Valley Police Department, along with several partnering agencies, dedicated their efforts overnight to repairing damaged equipment, restoring power, and reopening the city’s roadways.
According to The San Francisco Chronicle, residents described the impact as “vaguely biblical.”
Over the years, California has experienced tornadoes, with an average of 11 occurring annually, mostly during the spring and fall seasons. However, this past weekend marked a historic event for the city of San Francisco as it received its first-ever tornado warning. The EF-1 tornado that hit the Pacific Coast hub made headlines and raised concerns among residents.
At 6 a.m. PST, emergency alerts echoed through phones, spreading the urgent message shared by the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management on social media: “Seek immediate shelter in a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building. If you are outside, in a mobile home, or in a vehicle, make your way to the nearest secure shelter and shield yourself from airborne debris.”
“Ultimately, we are trending toward more frequent and intense weather events in San Francisco, and while WEAs are alarming, the National Weather Service only sends these alerts when there is a genuine possibility of a life safety hazard,” it said .
In 2005, San Francisco experienced an unexpected tornado that occurred without any prior warning.
Just days after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake caused a tsunami warning for most of the coastline, a tornado warning was issued.
The storm arrived as another atmospheric river event, delivering a lengthy plume of rain, bearing down on California, threatening flooding and severe winds, and knocking out electricity for thousands.
Substantial flooding in Livermore left two cars stranded. Novato police have reported power shortages.
According to PowerOutage.US, over 7,000 customers in California were still without power on Monday.
An active atmospheric river pattern is set to dominate the Northwest region for the next few days. We can expect precipitation in the state and throughout the West on Monday.
“For those of you that like rain: the next rainmaker is making its way into California with more rain on the way Friday through the weekend,” the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office said .
