Declaration brings more resources to a Placer County still digging out from record snowstorm

Placer County is still in the midst of a winter emergency.

More than 4,000 Placer County residents are without power after a record-breaking winter storm dumped snow, felled trees, and caused avalanches last week. The storm left some residents trapped in their homes. It forced closures of major highways, and even cut off residents and visitors of the Tahoe Basin for a time. Gas stations ran out of fuel.

The storm — which “smashed” previous snowfall records, according to the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory— left the county’s previous snowfall record of 179 inches in the dust, and dropped 214 inches of snow at elevations stretching from Auburn to Lake Tahoe. It clogged approximately 400 to 450 miles of roads with snow, which the county is still working to clear. In comparison, a typical winter only leaves about 200 miles of roads to plow, a county official said.

“Obviously that amount of snow comes with significant impacts,” said Dave Atkinson, assistant director of emergency services for the county, told the Board of Supervisors in Tuesday’s meeting. “The major one of course is the closure of (Interstate) 80. I’m a lifelong California resident and I honestly can’t remember I-80 being closed for such a long period of time in both directions like that. ... All of those things transpired, of course, and caused significant impacts in terms of people trying to get in, people trying to get out, nowhere to go.

“And then, of course, you add to that the impacts of all of the winds, the downed trees, the heavy snow, which resulted in just over 10,000 Placer County service connections being without power the morning of Dec. 27.”

The damage from the storm prompted the Placer County Board of Supervisors to ratify a local emergency Tuesday, with the aim of making more resources available to crews who are still working to clear trees, remove snow and restore power to residents.

The emergency declaration “speeds up” the timeline for bringing in additional resources — such as contractors, equipment, and funds — according to Atkinson. And allows the county to request more help from the state and other outside agencies.

The help is still needed as road crews, law enforcement, firefighters and public works personnel continue working to help residents.

Calls for service to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office more than doubled on Dec. 27, causing the Sheriff’s Office to increase the number of shifts to meet the need.

Deputies responded to calls from residents trapped in their homes by deep snow, using snowshoes and snowmobiles to access residences. In one case, two deputies spent hours digging a couple out of their Cisco Grove home. Once the couple was freed, the deputies dug a path to their SUV, which was also buried under multiple feet of snow.

Fire department hand crews, who cut fire lines during the summer fire season, were deployed to remove downed trees and debris from roads and shoulders. Fire personnel responded to a 3 a.m. emergency call from couple who became trapped by downed power lines on Interstate 80 in the Alta area while on the way to an emergency Cesarean section, said Brian Estes, fire chief for the Placer County Fire Department. Engine crews and county employees, who were on their way to work that morning and stopped to help, then escorted the couple through the snow to the hospital where their baby was born, Estes said.

After the snowfall subsided, residents were still being displaced by the storm due to the loss of power to their homes.

Roughly 6,000 Placer residents have had their power restored, and that number is projected to grow ahead of an expected date of restoration of Tuesday, said Brandon Sanders, a representative for PG&E’s Sierra division.

“We find ourselves here in the second week of what I would consider an extraordinary event,” Sanders told the Board of Supervisors. “The forested landscape stressed by a prolonged drought, coupled with heavy snow, has caused tree failure on a massive scale and certainly challenging our abilities and putting our customers in a very difficult position which we fully acknowledge.”

Sanders said PG&E had brought in all available staff and contractors to repair power lines, but the extent of work to still be done meant some residents wouldn’t have power restored until Jan. 9.

The storm damaged 519 conductors, and destroyed 249 poles and 39 transformers just in Placer County. There is widespread damage across neighboring El Dorado and Nevada Counties, too, Sanders said.

“Thousands of customers are suffering and we’re doing our best to bring them back into service,” he said.

This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 12:35 PM.