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 Tuesday, causingdamage to vehicles and forcing officials to close the bridge.San Francisco International Airport recorded wind gusts of 33 mph atapproximately 3 p.m. local time. The wind gusts at the airport decreasedslightly to 30 mph around 5 p.m.
A metal brace and rod on the Bay Bridge snapped and fell into the westboundlanes at around 5:30 p.m. according to the Associated Press.
Crews work on the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, Wednesday Oct. 28, 2009. (APPhoto/Marcio Jose Sanchez)Much of California and the Bay Area were experiencing gusty winds lateMonday into the first part of Tuesday. Gusts over the high ground and throughthe passes in the Sierra were topping 50 mph.Oakland had wind gusts reaching a maximum of 35 mph around 2 p.m. Gusts were inthe upper 20s around the incident at Oakland.
Monday, wind gusts at the San Francisco Airport exceeded 40 mph between 7 and 9p.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. The San Francisco Chronicle reports there is apossibility that the Bay Bridge will reopen this afternoon.
Story by AccuWeather.com's Gina Cherundolo
