Rain, downed trees: Atmospheric river continues as California storms’ death toll reaches 6
Rain fell and winds bellowed with gusts above 50 mph, but the Sacramento area appeared to be spared the most severe consequences from an atmospheric river storm that pounded Northern California on Wednesday, with minimal flooding and relatively brief power outages reported in the capital region through the night.
While other parts of the state were deluged with more than 2 inches of rain, including portions of the North Bay area, far less rain had fallen than anticipated in the immediate Sacramento area by Thursday morning.
Before the storm, the weather service warned that up to 3 inches of precipitation could fall near Sacramento. But only about one-third of an inch was recorded Wednesday morning at Sacramento Executive Airport, according to the National Weather Service, with up to about another half-inch possible Thursday.
However, thunderstorms remain possible until about 7 p.m. Thursday, forecasts show, which could bring heavier precipitation totals – and renewed flooding risk – within a short time frame.
Rainfall totals in the capital
According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento received 0.81 inches in the 24 hours ending Thursday morning.
Other areas of the capital received more: Sacramento International Airport received 1.45 inches and Folsom got 1.44 inches.
Sonora in Tuolumne County and Sims in Shasta County have the highest rainfall totals from the storm — 2.07 and 4.64 inches, respectively.
Roadways flooded in Placer County
As rain picked up some by midday Thursday, authorities in Placer County reported localized flooding on rural roadways.
West Wise Road, in unincorporated Lincoln, is flooded and impassable, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post just after 1 p.m.
More than 300 downed trees throughout the county
Sacramento County in a tweet early Thursday afternoon said crews have received reports of more than 300 downed trees since New Year’s Eve.
Residents can report downed trees by calling 311.
Three killed in Sacramento County flooding identified
The identities of the three victims whose bodies were found Sunday and Wednesday in Sacramento County floodwaters have been identified by the coroner.
They were: Steven Sampson, 45, of McAlester, Oklahoma; Mei Keng Lam, 57 of San Leandro; and Katherine Martinez, 61, of Orland, Sacramento County Coroner Rosa Vega confirmed.
Sampson’s body was found Sunday morning in a vehicle near Dillard Road and Highway 99, authorities said.
Lam was found near Dillard Road on Wednesday morning, also near Dillard Road but not in a vehicle. Martinez was located inside a submerged vehicle in Galt.
Strong gusts topple trees downtown
Severe gusts were the biggest disruptor in this week’s storm, with the capital region once again waking up to felled trees, some of them blocking roadways or sidewalks on the downtown grid, as well as other debris.
At 12th and S streets, two large trees had been scheduled for removal by the city starting Dec. 14. The city had already begun work on one of the trees. But on Wednesday night during the storm, one of them collapsed onto the sidewalk, smashing an electric scooter and e-bike parked in front of two storefronts.
Property manager Mike Oliver arrived just before 8 a.m. to survey the damage.
“So far so good, it doesn’t look too bad,” Oliver said.
One of the buildings, Kinetics Inc., was open for business and serving patients. Employees inside said they had left at 6 p.m. Wednesday and returned Thursday morning to find the tree nearly blocking access to the front door. The structure next door, is rented by a nonprofit that serves youth.
Across S Street, at the society for the blind building, another huge tree had fallen onto the parking lot Saturday during that storm, but appeared to have missed damaging the building. A tree removal crew was showing up Thursday morning, to begin clearing it from the parking lot.
At Sacramento State, at least six massive eucalyptus trees have been toppled by the storms since Saturday, uprooting buried irrigation lines, snapping utility poles, and downing electrical lines along the railroad berm on the west side of campus.
In East Sacramento, cars and homes were mostly spared of any damage. But piles of leaves, branches and other debris lined the streets.
At 53rd and H streets, two city utilities workers cleared debris from a blocked sewer drain.
The workers, assigned to East Sacramento, had been taking calls all morning, trying to limit the waterlogged streets. But they were both surprised to find less damage and debris than they anticipated.
“It wasn’t as bad as we expected,” said worker Ryan Henry. “I thought it was going to be worse.”
Sacramento County gusts peaked at 64 mph just after midnight, near Rosemont. Sacramento International Airport recording the next-fastest burst, at 52 mph, around 5 p.m., according to the weather service.
Toddler killed in Bay Area, bringing California death toll to 6
A young boy reportedly died Wednesday near the Sonoma County town of Occidental after a redwood tree fell on a double-wide mobile home, the Press Democrat newspaper reported.
Occidental Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ronald Lunardi told the newspaper that the tree fell onto a residence Wednesday night.
The boy, who was believed to be younger than 2, died at the scene, according to the Press Democrat.
The death marks at least California’s sixth linked to storms since New Year’s Eve.
Flooding from last weekend’s storm stranded motorists on Highway 99 and killed at least three people. Authorities on Wednesday announced the discovery of two bodies in the floodwaters, three days after a body was found near Highway 99 and Dillard Road, south of Elk Grove.
In addition to those three and the child killed in Occidental, a 72-year-old man was reportedly killed over the weekend by a fallen tree near Lighthouse Field State Beach in Santa Cruz.
In Fairfield, police said a 19-year-old woman drove Wednesday morning through standing water at a high rate of speed, hydroplaning before crashing into a utility pole. The driver died in the crash, and the weather service in a preliminary storm report Thursday morning classified the fatality as a flood-related death.
Limited power outages in Sacramento; more in Bay Area
Some 36,000 homes and businesses in Sacramento Municipal Utility District territory lost power overnight, said SMUD spokeswoman Lindsay VanLaningham, but crews by Thursday morning had restored power to all but about 1,300 customers. More than 150,000 had been plunged into outages during last weekend’s storm.
Of the 1,300 stuck in outages Thursday morning, roughly half were in the Rancho Murieta area, according to the SMUD website.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. reported more than 150,000 customers without power across its California service area.
Many of the largest outages were in the Bay Area: More than 30,000 lacked power as of 7:30 a.m. in San Mateo County; nearly 20,000 in each of Marin and Sonoma counties; and close to 10,000 in each of Mendocino, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.
In the Sacramento region, some of the largest PG&E outages as of Thursday morning included nearly 1,300 in the El Dorado County town of Camino and 1,100 power across Amador County.
Comcast customers in the Sacramento area suffered cable, phone and internet outages Wednesday after parts of the company’s plant and lines were damaged by fallen trees, Comcast spokesman Jon Koriel said. The company declined to state how many customers were affected.
More storms to come for Northern California
The capital region is not yet in the clear from flood concerns, as it continues to recover from damage wrought in a major, deadly storm last weekend that breeched levees and flooded rural parts of south Sacramento County.
More storms are inbound for California. Forecasters predict another atmospheric river will arrive this weekend following a brief let-up Friday, followed by another early next week and potentially yet another later next week.
The intensity of the later storms is not yet clear, but weather and state emergency officials warn that each successive storm could compound the impacts of earlier systems. Soils still sodden from this week’s storms will not be able to easily absorb fresh rainfall, leading to runoff into rivers and streams that are already running high from prior storms.
The county, along with large chunks of the Sacramento Valley, the San Joaquin Valley and the Sierra Nevada foothills, remain under a weather service flood watch through 10 a.m. Friday.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday declared a statewide emergency in response to the storms and flooding.
Nancy Ward, director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, in a Wednesday news briefing said the state anticipates the coming days to be the most impactful series of storms since California’s last major flood event, in 2017.
Sierra snow falls amid 100+ mph mountain gusts
A winter storm warning from the weather service remains in effect through 4 a.m. Friday.
Forecasters expected 4 to 8 inches of snow between Wednesday and Friday morning in the Sierra Nevada mountains above 5,000 feet, with 1 to 3 feet possible higher than 6,500 feet.
The Sierra Avalanche Center and Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center on Thursday morning each issued backcountry avalanche warnings, the former for stretches of Highways 4 and 49 including the in the greater Lake Tahoe area, and the latter for the area between Virginia Lakes and Rock Creek. Those warnings are in place through 7 a.m. Friday.
Peaks near Alpine Meadows in the Tahoe area observed gusts as high as 132 mph, according to the weather service.
This story was originally published January 5, 2023 at 8:48 AM with the headline "Rain, downed trees: Atmospheric river continues as California storms’ death toll reaches 6."
