“Without minimizing widespread storm damage and attending hardship, it is nice to see the hills green again…”
—Andy Gere, The Mercury News
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “Tuesday was the worse single day for Bay Area outages in almost 3 decades.” Cecile and I thought it was a good day for some savory, rich, restorative Vietnamese Noodle Soup (Pho) and after a busy morning we attempted to drive to our favorite place: Le Quay. Within minutes of driving, it was like riding an obstacle course. The 40 to 50 mpr winds (85 mph at higher elevations) wreaked havoc on the trees within our gated community as well as the next one Arroyo Rinconada in Los Gatos where a large tree facing the street was downed and practically took up the width of Pollard Avenue. This scenario was repeated several times including a tree downed near El Camino Health Los Gatos Hospital which blocked our ability to pass. Another tree was completely uprooted next to Westmont High School. It felt like the sky was falling. The howling of the winds made it all the more worrisome.
We made it to the restaurant but it was for naught, the interior was completely dark and it was forced to close. We found out later that 300,000 customers in the Bay Area were without power including many restaurants that were forced to close. We had to circle back closer to our home and finally went to our old favorite Effie’s for lunch, one of the few places open. We discovered later, that nearly 300,000 PG&E customers in the Bay Area were without power. When the winds died down by more than half later in the day, I decided to ride my bike on the Los Gatos Creek trail. The creek has continued to overflow one section of the paved trail that spanned over 200 feet. It was blocked off on either side.
Across from the trail there were other downed trees. That said, I felt far safer riding my bike on the trails than I did when Cecile and I were attempting to find a place to have lunch. Across the street from the creek trail I met a woman walking her dog and we were were checking out a tree that was downed near her condominium. Fortunately, it fell away from the building. She said her home was without power for the last five hours. Even Wednesday, there were still tens of thousand of people suffering through power outages.
I posted some photos of the flood waters and downed trees, some blocking some entrances and exits forcing me to double back and seek out alternative routes. Finally, just as I thought I had seen the most spectacular roaring waterfall from the Vasona County Park Reservoir Spillway, the near continuing rain storms since last December was a sight to see, as more lanes were open to accommodate its flow downstream.
