Powerful winds are expected to hit Sacramento County. Here’s when you should stay home
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Northern California Storms
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A second major storm is barreling into the Sacramento region Wednesday, bringing heavy rainfall and sustained strong winds, potentially toppling more trees and leading to power outages.
The National Weather Service is issuing a high wind warning from 10 a.m. Wednesday through Thursday afternoon, with the highest winds from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning.
People who rely on electricity for medical devices, people in flood-risk areas as well as unsheltered homeless people at the greatest risk of harm, and emergency officials urged Sacramento residents to seek shelter or stay at home — off the roads, and away from trees.
Residents can sign up for emergency alerts at Sacramento-alert.org and should, if possible, stock up on water, put gas in their cars, preemptively charge necessary electronic devices and check their flashlights’ battery life.
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors ratified an emergency proclamation over the winter storms in a special meeting Tuesday, paving the way for Sacramento County to get additional funds from the state as well as aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The county’s Office of Emergency Services has been activated since Dec. 28, in anticipation of the first damaging storm that started Dec. 31.
At the short meeting Tuesday, Supervisor Sue Frost suggested people move their cars away from trees.
“We are anticipating a fairly strong storm,” Mary Jo Flynn-Nevins, chief of emergency services in the county, said at the Tuesday board meeting. “Its highest impact is going to be heavy rain and very, very strong winds, not necessarily in that confined two-hour period that we experienced Saturday evening. ... I’m concerned about sustained gusts of wind throughout the day that could topple trees.”
A previous atmospheric river brought 60-mile-an-hour winds and record-setting rainfall on New Year’s Eve, causing 200,000 homes throughout the county to lose power, sometimes for hours.
That storm killed at least two people in Northern California, including one man in Sacramento County, who was found dead in a submerged vehicle off Dillard Road; another person in Santa Cruz was struck and killed by a falling tree.
In southeastern Sacramento County, Point Pleasant flooded and residents in neighboring Wilton were forced to evacuate before two levees failed on the Cosumnes River. An evacuation order for Point Pleasant is still in effect.
County officials are telling people not to drive through standing water using the dire slogan, “turn around, don’t drown.”
This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
