Silicon Valley is grappling with the technology industry’s latest disruption: rain.
As one of the strongest storms to hit northern California in a decade drenched the San Francisco Bay area yesterday, techies found themselves dealing less with innovation than with the old-fashioned business of keeping dry and finding power.
Some coders had to attend conferences with flashlights after the electricity cut out, while others grumbled about surge prices for car-booking application Uber Technologies Inc. as they struggled to find transportation to get to meetings. Many vented their frustrations on Twitter, with competing hashtags including #BayAreaStorm, #hellastorm and #stormageddon.
Such scenes were repeated across Silicon Valley, underscoring how ill-equipped the nation’s innovation capital actually is when it comes to dealing with a storm. The deluge, caused by a slow-moving weather system known as Pineapple Express, was set to dump 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) of rain into the area, according to the U.S. Weather Prediction Center. The rain and high winds caused at least 90,000 customers in the region to go without power, according to Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the utility unit of PG&E Corp., including parts of San Francisco’s downtown and elsewhere.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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