Lightning Knocks Out Power In Santa Rosa; Damages Brentwood Home

OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- A low pressure system fired pulses of unstable weather into the Bay Area Wednesday morning, triggering lightning storms that damaged a home in Brentwood and knocked out power to a Santa Rosa neighborhood, forecasters said.

The culprit was the same weather system that triggered freakish lightning storms in the Bay Area on Monday night into early Tuesday. Weather service officials said that about 1,200 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes occurred and nearly 7,000 total flashes were recorded for the entire Bay Area.

The lightning was also blamed for seven fires in the Cal Fire San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit's area of operations. One of those fires, in a heavily wood area near Woodside, was just 10 percent contained and has charred 50 acres so far.

Statewide, there were 6,700 lightning strikes detected.

On Wednesday morning, brief intense cloud bursts, lightning, thunder and hail were reported in Eastern Contra Costa County, Walnut Creek, Orinda and Santa Rosa and the North Bay.

In Brentwood Wednesday morning, authorities said, lightning struck a home, crashing through the chimney, entering the house and causing other damage. No injuries were reported.

Meanwhile in Santa Rosa, lightning struck electrical equipment on a power pole near a busy intersection, knocking out power to 1,400 customers, a PG&E spokeswoman said.

The outage occurred around 7 a.m. near the Farmers Lane and Fourth Street intersection. Power was restored to all but 20 customers by around 8:30 a.m., PG&E spokeswoman Deanna Contreras said.

The National Weather Service said the low pressure system would move to the southeast during the day, taking with it the threat of unsettled weather.

In:
• Brentwood
• Contra Costa County
• Santa Rosa