El Dorado County sheriff is among the latest to declare winter state of emergency
El Dorado County Sheriff Jeff Leikauf has proclaimed a state of local emergency due to severe winter storms in the area in February and March, according to the sheriff’s office.
The proclamation, issued Friday, states Leikauf finds that “conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property” have arisen in the county, caused by a series of storms that began Feb. 21.
Conditions are “likely to be beyond the control of services, personnel, equipment and facilities” of the county.
The Sheriff’s Office posted Sunday that it had responded to more than 10 welfare checks in a 24-hour period and advised residents to call their non-emergency line at 530-621-6600 if they know someone who might need one.
An avalanche warning is in effect for the central Sierra Nevada through Monday. Conditions in this area are “very dangerous” and travel is not recommended.
Emergencies in other counties
As winter storms continue, Placer County officials announced on Friday their own local state of emergency.
The county, after receiving up to 8 feet of snow during last week’s blizzard and facing the threat of more rough weather, is requesting state and federal assistance as “the response is beyond the capabilities of local resources,” officials said.
There are 2,000 households throughout the county without power, officials said. Several communities along the Interstate 80 corridor are affected by the outages as well as most of Foresthill.
In neighboring Nevada County, 8,113 residents are struggling with outages.
Earlier this week, an 80-year-old Foresthill woman died as a result of the storm. Her porch collapsed on her Tuesday.
“This week’s storms added to an already challenging winter for our communities, and it’s not over yet,” Placer Director of Emergency Services and County Executive Officer Jane Christenson said in a news release. “Our first responders and road crews continue to work around the clock to keep our residents safe and roads clear.”
A state of emergency is also in affect in 13 other California counties as a result of the storms, according to a Wednesday news release from Gov. Gavin Newsom.
- Amador
- Kern
- Los Angeles
- Madera
- Mariposa
- Mono
- Nevada
- San Bernardino
- San Luis Obispo
- Santa Barbara
- Sierra
- Sonoma
- Tulare
The Bee’s Jacqueline Pinedo contributed to this story.