High Surf — San Francisco, California

2010-01-20 to 2010-01-21 · San Francisco, California

Event narrative

Heavy surf from storms occurring this autumn and winter had finally eroded away the 30-foot bluff protecting San Francisco's Great Highway. The erosion removed the ground from beneath the guard rail of the southbound lanes causing the closure of all southbound lanes. The entire Great Highway was closed from Lincoln Way to Sloat Blvd. A request for a Governor's State of Emergency Proclamation was submitted in order to receive Emergency Relief funding from the Federal Highway Administration. The emergency, temporary estimate to repair the damage is $2.92 million dollars. However, a semi-permanent repair is estimated at an additional $15 million dollars.

Wider weather episode

The third in a series of significant storms brought strong winds and heavy rain to the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas. This storm, the strongest of the week, developed over the Pacific Ocean with a strong parent low pressure based in the Gulf of Alaska. Around 159,000 customers lost power across the San Francisco Bay area with nearly 22,000 customers without power in the Monterey Bay area. Numerous power lines and trees were knocked down when strong wind combined with saturated soil. Also, areas of flooding occurred causing mainly problems for vehicles.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 213182. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.