The winds reached their peak on Dec. 27 with speeds exceeding 35 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
Mud and boulders were found covering both lanes of Highway 1 at Devil's Slide around 7 p.m. on Dec 26, causing a road closure that lasted for two hours.
 A parked truck in Montara was crushed by a falling tree during high winds on Dec. 27. The damaging weather caused power outages along coastal San Mateo County. |
Crews responded the following day to search for other loose material and check the stability of the earlier repairs.
"It's a problem area, it always will be a problem area due to erosion. But we did get up there last summer and knock a lot of rocks down," Weiss said.
High winds were to blame for the major power outages experienced throughout the coast, throughout last week.
"The wires just keep snapping," said Paul Moreno, a spokesman for Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
On Dec. 27, more than 4,000 customers were without power in Half Moon Bay, with additional outages from San Gregorio to Pacifica.
Inland, the blackouts stretched as far as Redwood City, leaving more than 30,000 customers unplugged on the Peninsula, according to PG&E.
For about two hours, shoppers at Cunha's Country Grocery navigated the aisles with flashlights. At the cash register, clerks estimated prices by memory adding up receipts with pen and paper.
"We've even cut a few deals in the dark," said Bev Ashcraft, the store's owner. Clerks guessed that about 50 customers checked out "the old fashioned way."
On the roads, drivers didn't fear snapping wires as much as breaking boughs.
Numerous cars in Montara and Half Moon Bay gave up the ghost after large branches, and even entire trees, came crashing to the ground.
At the More 4 Less gas station on Highway 1, a large cypress crushed Marisol Nuñez's four-door sedan.
"I've had the car for five years," said Nuñez. "I'll need to figure out how to get to work now."
Nuñez commutes to the coast from Daly City.
Blocks away, at least one tragedy was averted.
An unlikely response team of trimmers and chain saws arrived at Kelly Avenue to the scene of a tree on the verge of collapse.
With the tree's roots still pulling up the sidewalk, the crew hurried to dismember the plant before its trunk came tumbling down into the 15-minute parking space below. r
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Lewis Rutherfurd contributed to this story.
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