"On Tuesday, March 21, 2023, a hurricane-like bomb cyclone struck Northern California. It wreaked havoc, knocking down trees and powerlines left and right. it was one of the worst storms the Bay Area has seen for a long time." -- Isaiah kahn, 7th grade
On Tuesday, March 21, 2023, a hurricane-like bomb cyclone struck Northern California. It wreaked havoc, knocking down trees and powerlines throughout the Bay Area. Winds reached up to 80 miles per hour. A big rig truck was blown onto its side while driving over the Bay Bridge and the upper windows of the Salesforce Tower were blown out. Trees fell down, roads were blocked, and PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) was overwhelmed trying to fix power outages affecting over a quarter million customers. Overall, it was one of the worst storms the Bay Area has seen for a long time.
During the storm, many trees were added to the already insane toll of 13000 downed trees reported to PG&E in 2023 alone, which is only four and a half months in. 662 trees fell in San Francisco during the bomb cyclone, which nearly tripled any other total this year and is one of the most trees down in a single day in the recorded history of San Francisco.
During the storm, many trees were added to the already insane toll of 13000 downed trees reported to PG&E in 2023 alone, which is only four and a half months in. 662 trees fell in San Francisco during the bomb cyclone, which nearly tripled any other total this year and is one of the most trees down in a single day in the recorded history of San Francisco.
According to many people, PG&E’s handling of the outages was speculative. “I don’t think [PG&E] did very well,” said Ava Ford, a 6th grade Literary Arts student who lost power for two days. “I think they took a long time [to restore power].” Kai Vejsada, a 7th grader at OSA, lost power for four days. He was frustrated by how long he was without power, but thinks that, considering the circumstances, PG&E did okay. “I think PG&E did pretty well responding to all the chaos,” he said.
Ford’s cousin was also somewhat stranded near a lake, due to a mechanical issue and a tree blocking her path back. She ended up being okay, but this goes to show how dangerous storms like this can be. During the cyclone there were five storm-related deaths, a train was derailed, homes were damaged, and many people were injured.
Some meteorologists momentarily predicted that there would be another storm exactly a week later that was just as bad, but luckily that storm landed further up the coast rather than in San Francisco. As it is now April, this was likely the last bad storm of the crazy winter season California has had this year, and thus ends the Telegraph’s storm coverage.
Fun fact: due to the excess of rain and storms California has had this year, there is estimated to still be snow on the July 4th weekend as at least one ski resort will still be open at that time.
