Sacramento digs out from major wind damage as officials brace for more storms

After a severe wind and rainstorm hit the Sacramento region early Sunday, officials were bracing for more storm damage from another series of storms that were expected to bring more rain at least through midweek, and authorities were urging area residents to stay inside until the danger passes.

The breadth of Sunday’s storm — especially the fierce winds that lashed the region and toppled huge trees throughout Sacramento — surprised some officials.

“We expected a storm, I’m not sure we expected the winds to be as high as they were.” said Lindsay VanLaningham, a spokeswoman for SMUD, who said roughly 216,000 homes and business remained in the dark Sunday afternoon. “We suffered extensive damages from the really, really high winds, the rain and fallen trees.”

“Things really just ramped up in a short amount of time.” added Katrina Hand, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Sacramento.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said the city was well prepared for the latest storm that swept through around midnight, but urged residents to stay inside as much as possible until the threat abates, possibly later this week.

“This is not a press conference situation,” Steinberg said in an interview with The Bee. “It’s literally neighborhood by neighborhood, and triaging and addressing the situation where the risk is the greatest.

“It’s an enormous task, and we have to be prepared.”

The warnings came as officials braced for more rain and winds Sunday night and early Monday, with the National Weather Service predicting wind gusts in the Sacramento region hitting 45 to 65 mph and more rain through at least Tuesday night.

The heaviest wind and rain were expected to hit the region after midnight and last until around 10 a.m. Monday. Showers are expected until late in the afternoon, when a 12-hour break brings some relief until early Tuesday, said Chelsea Peters, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

More wind and rain are expected Tuesday. By the time the storm eases Tuesday afternoon, between 3 and 4 inches of rain is expected to fall on the region.

County officials on Sunday evening issued an evacuation order for residents of the Wilton area along the Cosumnes River, warning that rising water may spill over onto roadways and cut off the ability to leave the area. Evacuation warnings were also issued for two mountain neighborhoods in El Dorado County.

During the New Year’s Eve storm, exit routes flooded quickly for residents leaving Wilton after several private levees broke and the Cosumnes reached flood stage.

State flood control officials were on alert for possible flooding problems along the state’s rivers and levees, but releases from Folsom Dam into the American River so far still were far below levels experienced in 2017, the last year of a major flood threat in the area, and concerns in Sacramento were more focused on problems from localized street flooding and wind damage.

The latest storm knocked out power to 500,000 California residents early Sunday, including at least 344,000 in SMUD territory and more than 50,000 in PG&E territory ringing the capital region. Crews spent Sunday scrambling to restore power throughout the area, utilizing mutual aid from outside utilities and contractors.

SMUD said Sunday evening that about 60,000 customers remain without power as crews continued working around the clock and across its 900-square-mile territory to reconnect lines.

“The most recent storm was the worst storm in more than 30 years, eclipsing last week’s New Year’s Eve storm,” SMUD officials said in a news release. “So far, SMUD has identified more than 80 downed power poles and dozens of downed trees impacting utility equipment. These numbers will grow significantly as assessments are completed.”

The public utility said it deployed 30 crews across the county on Sunday in response to the storms, up from the usual 16 crews on call. On Monday, 40 crews will be ready to respond to electrical emergencies, the utility said.

“Crews made steady progress throughout the day Sunday to assess damage, make repairs and restore power,” SMUD officials said. “Thanks to partnerships with other local utilities and contract crews, SMUD has nearly doubled the typical number of crews in the field.”

In Davis, downed power lines forced the closure of Pole Line from Cowell to 5th Street, and on 2nd Street from L Street to Cantrill until Monday at the earliest. Officials said they would not allow access even for business owners on the 2nd Street closure “due to the dangerous situation.”

Many Sacramento-area residents spent Sunday digging out from the howling winds early that raked the Sacramento region starting late Saturday night. The winds toppled huge trees that crushed cars, knocked out power lines, closed roadways, fell onto numerous homes and caused traffic light outages that snarled traffic throughout the region.

Gusts of up to 72 mph were recorded at Sacramento International Airport, with Yolo County recording gusts of 68 mph at Washington Lake.

Area residents awoke early Sunday to streets littered with trees, branches and debris, and numerous homes throughout the area sustained damage from trees being blown from heavily saturated ground.

At Fair Oaks and Marchita Way, Kent Krumwiede was out early Sunday with a flashlight inspecting a eucalyptus tree that had fallen and blocked both sides of the road’s five lanes.

Krumwiede, 57, said the tree came down around midnight, just as the storm was smashing through the Carmichael area. “It was like an explosion,” he said. “It’s been here over 100 years, maybe even longer.”

After hearing the tree fall, Krumwiede and another resident came out to try to warn motorists of the danger at the spot where speeders are notorious.

Despite their efforts, at least three cars hit the tree, including a white Honda found later parked with front-end damage and airbags deployed. Krumwiede said the California Highway Patrol was on scene by then and the driver was taken away after a sobriety field test was administered. The tree was marked off early Sunday by road flares and barriers.

A quarter-mile northeast of that spot, another large tree was blocking a single lane of Fair Oaks at Shelfield Drive. Fallen trees could be seen throughout the area, and there was no sign of electricity to any of the homes or businesses nearby.

Along American River Drive, Derrick Sindayen was in his front yard in shorts and a jacket as the rain continued to fall around 7:30 a.m.

He was inspecting the huge oak tree that once was the centerpiece of a neatly manicured lawn but now is dislodged with its roots showing and its trunk and branches resting on a stucco wall and Sindayen’s SUV.

“It was a beautiful tree,” he said, adding that he learned it had fallen when a neighbor texted him. He was still uncertain early Sunday whether his Cadillac Escalade had suffered any damage or was just covered by oak branches. “That’s what insurance is for.”

And in Campus Commons, where windstorms routinely topple large trees, Ron Berkan was inspecting his 2003 Mercedes-Benz sedan, parked under a huge piece of redwood tree that apparently had snapped off from across the street and smashed his windshield and hood.

Berkan, 84, said he discovered the damage after his wife heard the storm winds and came out to look.

“My wife heard the noise, the winds last night, and she described the damage a little worse than what I’m seeing right here,” he said. Berkan said he was not overly concerned about the damage as he swept windshield glass off the driver seat, then fired up the engine and backed out from under the debris.

“I tell people, whatever’s happened has happened.”

The storms have been blamed for the deaths of at least seven people, including a homeless woman killed Saturday night when a tree uprooted and fell on her in the River District around 6:45 p.m., Sacramento Fire Department officials said.

The tree fell on an American River levee along the 700 block of North 5th Street, and the 40-year-old woman was taken to a hospital but later died from her injuries.

Steinberg called the woman’s death a tragedy, and said she was killed not far from the city’s 5th Street shelter, which had space available Saturday night. He added that he was frustrated that more homeless residents had not taken advantage of the city’s offer of free transportation to shelter space from City Hall, but said he understood many did not want to leave their possessions behind.

“The people I’m most worried about are the unsheltered,” he said. “We have set up this fairly extensive system of transporting people from City Hall through Regional Transit to our available shelters.

“The problem is, not enough people are coming in. People don’t want to leave their possessions, so it’s understandable.”

City officials emphasized that they have made concerted efforts to offer shelter to homeless residents, providing 208 beds in shelter space since last Wednesday and sending workers to homeless camps to urge them to take cover inside shelters.

Steinberg also lavished praise on the city’s utility workers, who have been working to clear clogged storm drains and fallen trees.

The city said that on New Year’s Eve, when the first major storm hit, workers cleared 3,600 storm drains and were continuing to do so.

The mayor said that he, like many area residents, spent a largely sleepless night Saturday because of the winds and was grateful there was not more loss of life or injuries after he saw the extent of the damage Sunday morning.

“I think we’re lucky,” the mayor said. “Just to use my house, for example, it looks like a tornado hit. You go to the parks and to Land Park and it’s a massive amount of large limbs falling into the streets and river ways and adjacent to sidewalks.

“We’re very lucky thus far.”

Land Park resident Donna Rico had a front-row seat to the drama as the storm savaged electrical lines.

Rico, who calls herself an amateur photographer, was taking pictures of a downed tree across Riverside Boulevard when she captured an image of an electrical transformer exploding.

”It boomed three times,” she said. “It’s really loud – it shook the whole street – boom, boom, boom.”

Rico, whose house lost power, said that a SMUD worker told her it was the fourth one in the neighborhood.

And in Curtis Park, a group of about 10 neighbors banded together with a few chainsaws to clear a substantial tree that blocked 24th Street and crushed two pickup trucks.

“I know it’s terrible that we lost a beautiful tree and obviously people lost some property, but if there’s anything positive that comes out of it, it’s that the neighborhood all came together,” said Sandford Wragg. “We didn’t have to ask anybody — people came out and they saw that somebody needed help.”