City crews today are busy cleaning up after a weather system brought high winds and rain into the Sacramento area Tuesday.
The National Weather Service in Sacramento recorded sustained winds of up to 30 MPH and wind gusts of more than 50 MPH Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning, which caused issues citywide.
City Public Works crews since have been responding to about 80 calls for service, including downed or uprooted trees, fallen tree limbs and clearing debris from sidewalks, roadways and medians.
“Our main focus right now is clearing the right-of-way for pedestrians and vehicles, and to minimize localized flooding,” said Public Works Director, Ryan Moore. “We expect to be working through the weekend to keep pathways clear.”
City Utilities crews have unclogged about 300 storm drains and used 26 trailer-sized generators to keep water pumping stations online as high winds caused power outages throughout the city.
Less than one inch of rain was recorded at Sacramento Executive Airport, according to the National Weather Service.
“Crews worked diligently throughout the night keeping pump stations that had power outages operational, clearing storm drains and making certain our ditches, channels and creeks were clear and flowing,” said Utilities Director Bill Busath. “As a result of this and work done in advance, we only saw some minor storm water collection issues.”
The City’s Fire Department crews responded to 47 calls for weather-related emergencies, including damaged power lines, fallen trees on homes and building fires. That number does not include vehicle accidents and medical aid.
“From fallen trees, power lines down and structure fires, we’ve responded to many storm-related calls throughout the night,” said Gary Loesch, the City’s fire chief. “As the storm continues to move throughout our region we want residents to be prepared stay alert and stay safe.”
Since 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the City’s customer service department received more than 1,000 storm-related calls. People are encouraged to call 3-1-1 to report storm-related issues. Power outages should be reported to the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District by calling 1-888-456-SMUD (7683). Call 9-1-1 in the case of an emergency.
More rain and wind has been forecast by the National Weather Service for the Sacramento area throughout the week and into the weekend.