Storm cuts power, jams roads across Bay Area

Roughly 25,000 utility customers were without electrical service as of 7 p.m. Monday evening due to widespread power outages, according to PG&E.

Most of those affected customers are in the South Bay, with nearly 21,000 customers without power, and the East Bay with nearly 2,400 affected customers.

There are roughly 1,000 affected customers in San Francisco, 900 on the Peninsula and 420 in the North Bay, according to PG&E.

High winds, falling trees and downed power lines have been reported all over the region, according to the National Weather Service, with gusting winds in excess of 75 miles per hour recorded in the Los Gatos area.

Emergency crews responded its banks and is flooding agricultural fields at the edge of Santa Cruz County near Watsonville, according to firefighters.

Cal Fire, the Watsonville Fire Department and sheriff’s deputies are at Coward Creek, near the corner of state Highway 129 and Thompson Road, Cal Fire said in a statement on Twitter around 5 p.m.

A rockslide closed southbound state Highway 17 near Los Gatos in unincorporated Santa Clara County, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The closure was reported around 5:25 p.m. at the Lexington Reservoir. Just before 5:30 p.m., a vehicle struck the rocks that had fallen into the roadway, according to the CHP. A Sig-alert was issued at 5:56 p.m.

A Sig-alert was issued for state Highway 1 near Davenport in unincorporated Santa Cruz County, according to Caltrans.

The roadway has been closed by downed trees and wires as well as mudslides, according to a statement issued on Twitter around 7:30 p.m.

The closure is at mile post 35.49, near Swanton Road, according to Cal Fire.

Motorists have been advised to use state Highway 17 as a detour into and out of Santa Cruz, but southbound Highway 17 has also been closed due to a rockslide, according to the California Highway Patrol.

A driver died at a hospital this evening after crashing a car into a California Highway Patrol vehicle that was assisting a disabled vehicle on southbound Interstate Highway 280 in Los Altos Hills.

The officer suffered only minor injuries, according to the CHP, and no other victims were transported to a hospital.

The officer was called to the scene, on Highway 280 just north of El Monte Road, around 6:50 p.m.

The driver of the vehicle that struck the patrol car was trapped inside and had to be extricated. That victim suffered major injuries, was eventually transported to Stanford Medical Center and pronounced dead.

A large tree fell Monday afternoon, damaging a bridge that provides access to a private residence east of Nicasio, according to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office.

The damage was reported in the 7000 block of Lucas Valley Road in unincorporated Marin County in a statement posted to social media at 3:53 p.m.

The roadway’s integrity was compromised by the fallen tree, according to deputies.