Point Reyes Light - December 19, 2002

Tail of powerful typhoon hits West Marin

By Andrew Pridgen

More than a foot of rain and winds gusting to roughly 2.5 times hurricane force slammed into West Marin Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

The ferocious winds knocked down trees and uprooted others whose roots had been loosened by the rain. The falling trees, in turn, brought down powerlines, crushed cars and homes, and caused blackouts that in some towns lasted at least six days.

Without electricity, school and businesses were temporarily forced to close their doors.

Nor is it all over. At press time, a second storm system – this one from the Arctic – was scheduled to hit West Marin. In contrast, the storm that struck last weekend began as a typhoon in the South Pacific where it set an all-time record for wind speed.

Winds of 74 mph are considered hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the Pacific. The average winds on Saturday were recorded at 78 mph, ranger Jessica Taylor at the Point Reyes Lighthouse said.

Although a blackout at the lighthouse on Friday night and again from Saturday night until Monday evening prevented rangers from using their electronic wind gauge, they said the storm was among the most brutal in decades. Waves 25 feet high continually pounded on the cliffs around the lighthouse.

San Geronimo Valley

Although almost every household and business in West Marin was blacked out on Friday night and Saturday, most had their electricity back by Tuesday morning or earlier. However, at press time Wednesday evening more than 200 households and businesses on Rock Ridge Road, Maple Road, Carson Road, and Conifer Way in Woodacre were still without power.

Making matters worse for these homes and businesses is that many Woodacre residents have heard reports their power will not be back on until Friday, precisely when the next big storm is expected to hit.

Throughout West Marin, residents reacted with anger to PG&E’s response to last weekend’s storm.

"I think what PG&E is doing is outrageous," said 33-year Woodacre resident Susan Lahr. "This is the worst response since we’ve lived out here. We realize that our grid is not their [PG&E’s] No. 1 priority. We realize the storm is causing problems everywhere. But to be without power for a week is unacceptable. There are elderly living out here in the dark and the cold. It’s atrocious."

Despite the storm, however, Lagunitas School Districts managed to continue class uninterrupted.

Stinson Beach

In Stinson Beach, almost 300 homes and businesses were still without electricity at press time Wednesday evening, Mack Black of Stinson Beach Water District told The Light. Black said the water district is using a generator to remain in operation.

In a letter Stinson Beach attorney Carole Brill sent to PG&E Wednesday, she fumed: "This is just unacceptable, and PG&E has to put the power back on. We may be a small community, but we are not powerless (no pun intended). To whom exactly are our approximately 1,000 fulltime and (thousands more) parttime residents and visitors [considered] expendable?"

Black noted a flyer posted in the Stinson Beach Postoffice warned they may not get their electricity back until Christmas Day.

"That’s simply not true," responded PG&E spokesman Lloyd Coker on Wednesday. "As it stands all of the older outages will be restored tonight. Ninety percent of the other outages [those that began on Monday and Tuesday] will be restored by tomorrow."

"That’s the correct information." Coker said. "That’s what people should know. I don’t know anything about flyers; that sounds like a very nasty prank. There are no other timelines."

Coker acknowledged that PG&E has come under fire during this storm for its not restoring power to many households and businesses sooner.

Things may go better in the upcoming storm systems, said PG&E’s Coker on Wednesday, because residents and PG&E workers will have time – assuming PG&E could restore power to most of West Marin by Wednesday night – to prepare for the next wave.

"Obviously we’re in a storm mode," Coker added. "Our fear is: we restore power [only to] go back to the same community and have to restore power again. It’s an endless cycle."

Point Reyes Station

Much of Point Reyes Station was blacked out for 7.5 hours Saturday. In outlying areas, the outage was longer, and most of Mesa Road, where falling cypress trees crushed two vehicles at the home of Vicki Leeds, was dark for three days starting Saturday morning.

Ann Dick, who owns a bed-and-breakfast inn on Mesa Road, noted that falling trees brought down local power lines during a storm the second week of November, but at that time, power was restored within a day.

The innkeeper was indignant at the pace of PG&E’s workers this week. "I just don’t understand it," she said. "There’s no explanation. There’s no reason for this. You call PG&E, and they don’t have an answer."

Neighbor Bruce Lauritzen, tired of waiting for a phone call from the utility company, on foot chased down a PG&E truck to tell the driver about problems on Mesa Road. Lauritzen had no choice but to run after the truck because his car was locked in his garage, which has an electrically powered door.

"I was told by the [PG&E] guy that a fuse had blown," said Lauritzen. "A single fuse! Five minutes after I told him, the power was back on."
Lauritzen said some residents are considering a class-action lawsuit and blame PG&E’s slow response to blackouts in West Marin on everything from a lack of communication to the utility’s bankruptcy.

"There are a lot of theories of course," he said, "but what we’re finding is that during big storms, they are having to contract people to come out here, assess the problem, and go back and report it. Meanwhile nothing is getting fixed. They’re completely missing the boat."

Fire officials said other than the Mesa road residents Point Reyes Station, came away from the storm mostly unscathed.

Inverness

In Inverness and Inverness Park, the worst damage from the storm was caused by a tree that fell on the Inverness home of Burton Eubank.

Eubank, a renter on Laurel Avenue, told The Light he was about to go to bed at midnight Sunday when he heard a tree overhead start to fall. He rushed outside to see the tree crash through the roof of his home and into his son Zephyr’s room. Fearing the worst, he ran into his home only to find that his son had slept through the crash.

After setting up temporary shelter at the Inverness firehouse, Eubank, an Inverness volunteer firefighter, worked long into the night helping out other townspeople deal with falling trees, heavy winds, and blackouts.

Eubank for the moment is living at a neighbor’s home and looking for a residence. In the meantime, he thanked his neighbors for their help in dealing with storm damage.

"A lot of big trees came down," noted Kaaren Gann, manager of Inverness Public Utility District. "Most of Inverness and Inverness Park [electricity was] restored by Monday."

Streets that experienced power outages through early Tuesday included upper Seahaven Road, Vision Road, parts of Heather Lane, Woodhaven Road, and some homes along Highland Road.

In addition, homes on Point Reyes and Pierce Point were still without power five days after the storm began.

"Thank God there was no flooding this weekend," said Gann. "We have sandbags and sand available, but really we’re at the mercy of the wind. Rain we can handle. Wind we can’t."

Muir Beach

The Pelican Inn, the only commercial business in town, remained open throughout the weekend thanks to a generator in the kitchen and candles on the tables. Pacific Drive, the main access to the federal beach, was repeatedly flooded, arcing powerlines were reported, and roads into town were strewn with fallen trees and branches.

The worst damage was caused by three large cypress trees that blew down onto a Sunset Way home owned by Walter Postle.

Bolinas

Surprisingly, reports from Bolinas officials were upbeat. One resident said when the storm hit West Marin’s 14 towns, Bolinas was the "lucky one."

"It looks like for the time being that we held on pretty good," Bolinas Fire Chief Kevin Hicks told The Light Monday. "There’s no rhyme or reason to it. We [at the firestation] have luckily had power through most of it. The house next door hasn’t had any, but besides lots of trees falling, nobody got hurt."

Hicks said Bolinas school closed in "anticipation" of flooding, but no structural damage was reported. In addition, PG&E reported on Wednesday that parts of Mesa Road still without electricity.

Besides that, Hicks said, Bolinas fared this storm "rather well," receiving only about eight storm-related calls on Saturday and Sunday.

"We got through this first one," Chief Hicks said. "We’re fortunate compared to Stinson Beach, who we’ve been trying to help as well."

Nicasio

Nicasio School remained closed all week, but reopened briefly on Tuesday so the elementary students could attend Nutcracker ballet. The school was without power, its septic system, and phones, but the show did go on, school aide Liz Bourne.

Although falling trees brought down power lines on Lucas Valley and Nicasio Valley roads, PG&E officials reported power to those was restored on Tuesday night. However, the fallen trees repeatedly blocked the two roads.

Lucasfilm spokeswoman Lynne Hale said that the Skywalker Ranch Fire Department stayed busy throughout the storm helping Caltrans and county firefighters remove trees and check powerlines along Lucas Valley Road.

Worse yet, a part of Lucas Valley Road a mile west of Big Rock washed out at 9 a.m. Monday. The washout occurred where there is culvert for a seasonal creek, which during the storm became a torrent.

"The culvert undermined the road," Tim Richardson of Lunny Grading and Paving said. "The water rose so high it [washed away] the road.

At presstime the 20 foot stretch of Lucas Valley Road that washed away was still down to one lane. Richardson estimated repairs would be completed by the weekend.

Tomales

Winds on Sunday morning knocked an overhead cable onto the Fallon-Two Rock Road, but deputies were unable to reach the scene because a fallen tree on Highway 1 blocked their route. Sunday afternoon, the southbound lane of Highway 1 at Ocean Roar was blocked by another fallen tree.

In addition, two boats broke loose from their moorings in Marshall. One sank, and the Coast Guard was dispatched to stop the other, which was being blown toward the mouth of Tomales Bay.

Hicks Valley

One-room Lincoln School in Hicks Valley managed to hold regular classes all week.

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