The San Francisco Bay Area was experiencing wind gusts of just more than 30 mphpreceding the time of the structural damage on the Bay Bridge, causing damageto vehicles and closing the bridge indefinitely.San Francisco International Airport recorded wind gusts of 33 mph atapproximately 3 p.m. local time, and these wind gusts slightly decreased to 30mph around a half hour before a metal brace and rod snapped and fell into thewestbound lanes at around 5:30 p.m. according to the Associated Press.
Oakland also had wind gusts Tuesday evening, with wind gusts reaching amaximum 35 mph around 2 p.m. and were in the upper 20s until the incident.
Monday, wind gusts at the San Francisco Airport exceeded 40 mph between 7and 9 p.m.
The damaged piece of bridge was part of a recent safety renovation that tookplace over Labor Day weekend.
The falling rod and brace damaged at least two vehicles on the bridge, butnobody was seriously injured. Officials have closed the entire bridge untilfurther notice, according to the AP.
Story by AccuWeather.com's Gina Cherundolo
