Storm Winds Cause Power Outages Throughout Santa Clara
SANTA CLARA (KPIX 5) -- Strong, gusting from this weekend's storm caused scattered power outages in Santa Clara for much of the post-Thanksgiving weekend.
Outages were first reported at about 11 p.m. Saturday, affecting 2,634 customers of both Silicon Valley Power and PG&E.
The howling winds toppled the scaffolding on a building under construction behind the Subaru dealership in Santa Clara, causing sections of the wall to fall like dominoes onto the power lines below.
"It was super windy. We have a big palm tree in the back. And the leaves were swaying. All the trees in the backyard were swaying. And the wind was howling," said neighbor John Villavert.
Strong winds overnight resulted in power line damage in several places other than the wind-damaged scaffolding.
Villaverty said the accident at the construction site knocked out power to several neighborhoods nearby. He was using a camping stove to cook for his family, who had been without power for over 12 hours as of Sunday afternoon.
"We were doing some Christmas decorations and all of a sudden, the power went out. And we looked out the window and saw that the whole neighborhood was out," he said.
In another part of Santa Clara, heavy winds knocked down trees onto transmission lines. Crews with Silicon Valley Power worked quickly to make repairs and restore power Sunday evening.
Power was restored to the remaining 110 Silicon Valley Power electric customers affected of more than 2,600 customers (including a few PG&E customers) at approximately 9 p.m. Sunday, about two hours sooner than originally forecast.
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