Residents are asked to report localized flooding and clogged drains to www.sac311.org and clear gutters of leaves
The City is preparing for an upcoming severe storm that will hit the region on Wednesday, Dec. 10 with local impacts occurring Wednesday night through Friday, Dec. 12.
The City’s departments of utilities, public works and general services are prepared. City crews work year-round to help prepare for winter storms.
The Department of Utilities will open an internal operations center with staff rotating on 12-hour shifts to respond to localized flooding and clogged storm drains.
The Department of General Services, Division of Recycling and Solid Waste collects leaves six days-a-week rain or shine. The Department of Public Works assists utilities crews with unclogging storm drains and also has crews on-call to respond to reports of trees and limbs down and traffic signal outages. Floodgates are checked and training exercises were performed last month. The City also prunes the City’s 100,000 public trees on a five-year cycle, which limits the number of public trees toppling and branches dropping from high winds.
What citizens need to know:
- It does not take many leaves to clog a drain. Residents are encouraged to collect leaves in yard waste cans first, then pile on the street away from grates and away from the gutter to help water flow to the drains. Residents should keep an eye on drains during storms and use a rake to clear leaves and debris off of the grates.
- Residents can get an estimate of when leaf collection crews will be on their street at sacrecycle.org. If the estimated collection date is not until next week, residents should consider moving piles onto their lawns until after the storm.
- On Thursday, crews will attempt to collect garbage, yard waste and recycling. High winds may cause containers to blow over and create driving hazards as well as spread garbage across property. Collection trucks may not be able to service some streets due to flooding.
- If containers cannot be serviced due to the weather on Thursday, the City will return on Friday and Saturday if necessary.
- Once garbage collection has occurred, customers are urged to move their containers off the street as strong winds tip the cans and blow them into the street.
- If your property is known to flood, you should have sandbags ready. They can be purchased at hardware stores or the City is offering two self-service locations where sandbags can be picked up at no charge, after 2 p.m. on Wednesday the 10th. (Sandbags are pre-filled though customers must load them onto their vehicles themselves. Limit 10 per vehicle.)
- The North Area Corporation Yard, located at 918 Del Paso Rd., at the Kenmar Road yard entrance
- The City’s flood warehouse, located at 6150 27th, just north of 47th Avenue
- If there is street flooding that is not eased by moving leaves off a drain grate, trees down, street signs, streetlights or traffic signals out, visit the City’s on-line request tool at sac311.org or call 311. The City has crews 24/7 to response to requests.
- With the gusty winds, localized power outages are possible as outdoor decorations, tree limbs and patio furniture are carried into power lines. Power outages should be reported to SMUD 1-888-456-SMUD (7683). If you see a downed power line, DO NOT TOUCH IT, call 9-1-1.
- The Front Street Shelter urges pet owners to protect pets from the elements, have dry bedding and make sure your fence lines are secure.
For additional information about storm preparations, visit our Storm Preparedness page.