Northern California slammed with much needed rain

A powerful storm churned through Northern California on Thursday, knocking out power to tens of thousands and delaying commuters while soaking the region with much-needed rain.

Throughout the Bay Area, waves slammed onto waterfronts, ferries were bound to their docks, many schools canceled classes and the gusting winds had motorists tightly gripping their steering wheels on the Golden Gate Bridge, where managers created a buffer zone to prevent head-on collisions by swerving cars.

The iconic suspension bridge is engineered to swing in cross winds, and engineers were standing by, but "the concern we have right now is more about vehicles," spokeswoman Priya David Clemens said. (AP)

Find more news-related pictures in our photo galleries and follow us on Tumblr.