Lightning strikes force 2 Santa Rosa schools to close

By Carlos E. Castañeda

Early morning lightning strikes on Tuesday led to two schools in Santa Rosa closing down for the day, including at one site where lightning obliterated a large tree.

The Woodside West School, a preschool on Guerneville Road west of Fulton Road in West Santa Rosa, canceled classes Tuesday morning after lightning struck a large redwood tree on the property. The tree was left in pieces, with one portion puncturing the roof of the school and another crushing a fence.

The school was closed because of the damage. 

Less than two miles east. Helen Lehman Elementary School was also closed Tuesday morning after a lightning strike knocked out power to the campus. The Santa Rosa City Schools District said on its website that lightning hit a power pole outside the campus.

The district said the school was closed Tuesday because of the outage as well as localized flooding.

Lightning was reported around the region beginning at about 5 a.m. Tuesday. The National Weather Service said its networks reported roughly 500 total lightning strikes across the Bay Area as of 9 a.m. Tuesday morning.