Storm knocks out power to 200,000 Sacramento-area homes, businesses. Thousands still out
Update, Sunday, Jan. 1: Highway 99 closed in Sacramento County, flash flood warning extended
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Close to 200,000 homes and businesses in the Sacramento region lost power Saturday evening as a monumental atmospheric river storm brought gusts near 60 mph and pounding rains to Northern California on New Year’s Eve.
Sacramento Municipal Utility District reported over 165,000 customers without power as of 10 p.m., according to the utility company’s website. Outages were throughout the county, including more than 16,000 without power downtown and more than 27,000 in the Arden Arcade area.
By 11 a.m. Sunday, more than 38,000 homes and businesses in SMUD territory remained in the dark across the county as crews worked to restore power, the utility said.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. reported about 27,000 without power in Yolo County on Saturday night, including more than 15,000 in the dark in Davis, more than 7,000 in Woodland and about 4,200 in West Sacramento. By daybreak, over 25,000 customers remained in the dark, according to the utility.
The rain and wind also knocked out power in the foothills, according to PG&E. More than 2,400 customers of El Dorado County and nearly 3,700 in Placer County remained in the dark by 11 a.m. Sunday.
The mass outages came as one of strongest storms in recent memory blasted Northern California, causing widespread flooding and road closures including in the capital region and Bay Area.
“Power outages affecting Sac County and adjacent areas,” the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office tweeted just before 8:30 p.m. “Wind blown debris and some downed trees on roadways. Northerly winds on the back side of the storm will gust locally to around 55 mph for the next few hours. Avoid travel!”
Residents in an area of Wilton in southeastern Sacramento County were told to seek higher ground ahead of what county emergency officials said Saturday night was an “imminent levee failure.”
“SMUD is monitoring conditions, preparing additional resources and will continue to work as quickly and as safely as possible to restore power during this weather event,” SMUD tweeted shortly after 8:30 p.m.
This story was originally published December 31, 2022 at 9:35 PM.
