25,000 without power as storm batters Sacramento region

The wet and windy storm that's moved into Northern California has brought widespread electrical outages, roadway flooding and a growing number of reports of falling trees and limbs.

At one point, there were 25,000 customers without power in the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, said spokesman Chris Capra. Crews were responding to about 100 separate outage incidents.

Sacramento registered 1.44 inches of rain as of 1:15 p.m. Wind gusts up to 45 mph were reported at Sacramento International Airport.

Northern California is expected to experience a fairly strong storm with 1 to 2 inches rain predicted in Sacramento, according to Johnnie Powell, forecaster for the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

ON THE ROADS

Caltrans reports it is about to block the fast-lane on southbound I-5, beginning at 12:30 p.m., for what officials say should be 90 minutes while crews work to free up a blocked drain pipe in the center median that is causing flooding on all five lanes. A drain on a nearby shoulder has been cleared, but six inches of waters to cover the road. While the freeway remains open, but traffic is backed up.

Caltrans rebuilt the storm drain system on that section of freeway last year. Dinger said those pumps are working, but debris collected over the summer apparently is clogging the drains.

"We have a pretty big traffic jam out there now," Caltrans Mark Dinger said.

Meanwhile, the CHP is reporting a rash of noon-hour collisions on local freeways and streets. They include a non-injury accident blocking a lane on northbound Interstate 5 downtown and a crash on westbound Interstate 80 east of Truxel Road. There is freeway flooding reported also on a section of Highway 99 just south of Martin Luther King Boulevard.

California Highway Patrol reports flooding on eastbound Highway 50 at the connection to I-5 near West Sacramento.

Interstate 5 and Seamas Avenue reopened at 11:45 a.m., Caltrans reports. A big rig traveling southbound about 6 a.m. crashed at Seamas near the South Land Park area. Two lanes of northbound I-5 were closed for commuters heading into downtown Sacramento, and traffic was backed up several miles to Hood-Franklin Road.

At one point during the morning, the Sacramento Traffic Management Center's incident page reported a tree down across the roadway at Gerber Avenue and T Street, a truck spinout on eastbound Interstate 80 just west of Marysville Boulevard, traffic signal lights out in Orangevale, and a blown electrical transformer that set a utility pole on fire along Jackson Road.

Around the Sacramento region, winds and rain had caused all kinds of problems, said Gonzales of the CHP. "Boulders are in the roadways, trees are being knocked down and limbs are in the streets. Motorists should be very aware. All the problems related to weather are here."

Commuters from Elk Grove reported drives up to two and a half hours into downtown Sacramento.

POWER OUTAGES

SMUD crews are making headway restoring electricity to thousands of customers throughout the region, with the lights going back on for more than 15,000 of them so far.

Late this morning, SMUD officials estimated more than 25,000 customers were without power because of the winds that lashed the region in the first major storm of the season.

But spokesman Chris Capra said at about 2 p.m. that about 9,600 were still without power and that 13 line crews -- consisting of four to eight workers each -- and 21 individual troubleshooters were out trying to restore power.

"We've got plenty of bodies on the street," Capra said. "It's just a matter of getting them to the areas where they're needed."

There was no large single area without power, Capra said, adding that spot outages were being reported throughout the region, where SMUD serves more than 592,000 customers.

"I have no real concentration (of outages)," he said. "These are very widespread, from the dozens to the hundreds."

As of noon, Pacific Gas & Electric was reporting 34,000 customers were without power in Solano, Yolo, Colusa, Sutter, Yuba, Nevada, Sierra, Placer and El Dorado counties.

Source Sac Bee