Northern California Storm Coverage: Sacramento region deals with NYE aftermath, preps for 50mph wind gusts Wednesday - KCRA Sacramento

ANNOUNCER: WHERE THE NEWS COMES FIRST, THIS IS KCRA 3 NEWS AT 6:00. >> BUZZING CHAINSAWS. AND GRINDING WOOD CHIPPERS. IT WAS A COMMON SIGHT AND SOUND IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA TODAY. CREWS CLEANING UP FROM THE WEEKEND STORM. UTILITY CREWS AND ROAD CREWS ARE WORKING FRANTICALLY TONIGHT. >> AT THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM, NEARLY 180,000 PEOPLE LOST POWER. SMUD HAS HIRED CONTRACTORS AND BROUGHT IN OTHER CREWS TO HELP RESTORE POWER TO THE LAST 2500 CUSTOMERS. KCRA 3’S MICHELLE BANDUR IS LIVE NEAR THE ARDEN FAIR MALL. MICHELLE THE CLEANUP CONTINUES. >> YEAH. NEIGHBORS HAVE CALLED THE CITY ABOUT THIS MASSIVE TREE BLOCKING THE ROAD HERE AT THE INTERSECTION OF YORKSHIRE ROAD AND BOWLING GREEN. I MEAN, TAKE A LOOK, THE TREE IS ACROSS THE ENTIRE ROAD TO OVER THERE. THE CITY HAS NOT MADE IT A PRIORITY BECAUSE IT DID NOT TAKE POWER LINES DOWN, BUT OTHER NEIGHBORS ARE STEPPING IN TO TRY TO GET IT OUT OF THE WAY. JEFF HUSK DIDN’T WANT TO WAIT ON THE CITY. >> I AM NOT A FULL-TIME LOGGING GUY. >> BUT HIS CHAIN SAWS ARE NO MATCH FOR THE BIG BRANCHES OF THE BIG PINE BLOCKING THE INTERSECTION AT YORKSHIRE ROAD AND BOWLING GREEN. >> HE WAS CUTTING IT -- I STARTED CUTTING IT AND IT WAS TOO LATE. >> I HEARD A TERRIBLE NOISE. I THOUGHT, WHAT IS HAPPENING? >> 91-YEAR-OLD CATHERINE COLEMAN THOUGHT HER NEIGHBOR’S TREE FELL ON HER HOUSE, BUT IT JUST MISSED HER. >> THERE WAS NO ROOF ON THE GROUND, THEN I TURNED AND LOOKED , IT IS AMAZING. >> THE TREES LANDED RIGHT IN FRONT OF AN UBER DRIVER STOPPED AT THE STOP SIGN ONE OF THE BRANCHES, LIKE A SPEAR PUNCTURED THE ENGINE. >> THIS PERSON DISAPPEARED. WE DO NOT KNOW WHERE THEY WENT. THEY JUST WALKED AWAY. >> THIS PINE TREE AND A FALLEN EUCALYPTUS TREE A FEW BLOCKS OVER ALSO MISSED POWER LINES. >> YEAH, IT, IT CAME RIGHT DOWN. UNREAL. >> WE HAVE NOT SEEN A STORM LIKE THAT IN 30 YEARS. >> SMUD BROUGHT IN EXTRA UTILITY CREWS TO TRY TO GET ALL THE POWER RESTORED BEFORE THE NEXT WIND STORM. >> WE HAD ABOUT 120 POWER POLES DOWNED. AS OF YESTERDAY, ABOUT 60, SO WE ARE MAKING PROGRESS. >> BUT HUSK AND OTHER NEIGHBORS HAVEN’T MADE MUCH OF A DENT BREAKING DOWN THESE BRANCHES. >> PEOPLE ARE GOODHEARTED PEOPLE. >> YEAH, NEIGHBORS ARE TRYING TO GET SOME OF THE CLEANUP DONE, BUT IT IS MASSIVE. YOU SAW THE STOP SIGN HERE AT THE INTERSECTION, WELCOME WITH THOSE OF THE ROOTS OF THE TREE, SO THIS IS JUST A HUGE JOB TO DO HERE. THE CITY, NO TELLING WHEN THE CITY WILL GET HERE. PUBLIC WORKS SAYS THEY HAVE HIRED CONTRACTORS TO HELP WITH THE STORM CLEANUP, BUT AGAIN, THEY ARE WORKING HARD TO GET IT CLEANED UP BEFORE THE NEXT STORM COMES IN THEM BUT THEY WILL NOT BE GETTING TO THIS NEIGHBORHOOD ANYTIME SOON. THE DRIVER, THE UBER DRIVER OF THIS CAR DID NOT GET HURT. THAT DRIVER IS DOING OK. ANDREA: GOOD TO HEAR NO ONE WAS HURT. THANK YOU. CHAINSAWS ARE STILL BUZZING ALL OVER NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. AS CREWS WORK TO CLEAR THE TREES THAT FELL IN THE WEEKEND STORM. THIS HUGE PINE TREE CAME DOWN SATURDAY NIGHT AT HAGAN COMMUNITY PARK IN RANCHO CORDOVA. HUGE TREE THERE. THE TREE HIT PART OF THE FENCE TO A DOG PARK. THAT CHAIN LINK FENCE WAS CRUSHED UNDER THE WEIGHT OF THE TREE. THE PARKWAY TRAIL IS CLEAR. PARK RANGERS WERE OUT SURVEYING THE DAMAGE ON SUNDAY MORNING. AND SAY THIS TREE IS ON CITY PROPERTY, SO IT WILL BE UP TO THEM TO REMOVE THE TREE AND TO REPAIR THE DAMAGE. AS CREWS WORK TO RESTORE POWER AND CLEAR THE TREES BLOWN OVER FROM LAST WEEK’S STORM, WE ARE GETTING READY FOR THE POTENTIAL OF MORE DAMAGING WINDS. GULSTAN: YEAH, KCRA 3’S MARK FINAN HAS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE TIMING OF THE NEXT WEATHER SYSTEM. MARK: THERE IS A POWERFUL STORM DEVELOPING IN THE PACIFIC. IT IS COMING ARE WANING -- OUR WAY WITH RAIN, WIND AND SNOW. WE ARE EXPECTING STRONG WIND TOMORROW, STRONGEST IN THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING AND LATE NIGHT HOURS. THERE WILL BE VALLEY RAIN. WE COULD SEE UP TO ONE INCH AROUND SACRAMENTO, IT WILL NOT HAVE THE SAME IMPACT AS LAST SATURDAY AND WE WILL NOT SEE ANY MAJOR FLOODING. THERE MIGHT BE SOME MINOR FLOODING, BUT I DON’T THINK FLOODING WILL BE AN ISSUE. ONE FOOT OR MORE OF SIERRA SNOW AND CHAIN CONTROLS ON AND OFF TOMORROW. BECAUSE OF THE WINDS, TOMORROW IS A WEATHER ALERT DAY, GUSTING 40 TO 50 MILES PER HOUR, MIDDLE PART OF THE VALLEY, EAST SIDE OF THE VALLEY COME FOOTHILLS TO 49, LEADING TO THE POSSIBILITY OF POWER OUTAGES FROM MODESTO TO MARYSVILLE, 49, PLACERVILLE, AUBURN, GRASS VALLEY, EVERYBODY HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE IMPACTED BY THESE OUTAGES TOMORROW NIGHT. GULSTAN: THANK YOU. SPEAKING OF POWER OUTAGES, POWER CREWS ARE WORKING AROUND THE CLOCK TO RESTORE ELECTRICITY FOR THOUSANDS OF RESIDENTS IN THE SACRAMENTO REGION WHO REMAIN WITHOUT SERVICE. MANY HAVE REPORTED IN DAYS LONG DELAYS WAITING FOR RESTORATION, BUT SOME ARE STILL IN THE DARK WAITING FOR ANSWERS. KCRA 3’S JOSIE HEART WAS OUT IN GALT TO TELL US HOW ONE FAMILY IS TRYING TO SURVIVE. REPORTER: FROM PILING ON BLANKETS AND USING CAMPING GEAR, A FAMILY OF SIX IN GALT IS DOING WHAT THEY CAN TO GET THROUGH AN ONGOING POWER OUTAGE. THIS HAPPENED TO THEM AFTER A TREE KNOCKED DOWN A POWER POLE NEXT TO THEIR PROPERTY ON NEW YEAR’S EVE, KNOCKING OUT POWER FOR MULTIPLE SURROUNDING HOMES. LAWRENCE WHITE SAYS HIS FAMILY HAS NO HEAT, LIGHTS, IS SOON TO RUN OUT OF FOOD AND WATER. >> RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE OF EVERYTHING THAT’S GOING ON, IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO GET A GENERATOR ANYWHERE, EVERYBODY’S OUT OF THEM. >> BUT THIS FAMILY’S BIGGEST CONCERN IS THE DOWNED WIRES FROM THE POWER LINE THAT LANDED RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEIR GATES. WHITE SAYS CREWS HAVE GONE OUT TO OBSERVE THE AREA, BUT COULDN’T PROVIDE CONCRETE ANSWERS. >> THEY HAVE NOT DETERMINED OR TOLD US IF IT IS LIVE TONIGHT. REPORTER: LEAVING HIM FEARFUL TO LEAVE THEIR HOMES. >> WE ASK THEM TO ASSUME THAT THEY ARE LIVE. DO NOT TOUCH THEM. AND THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT THE FAMILY IS DOING. BUT FOR NOW, THEY RELY ON THE HELP FROM NEIGHBORS. AND WHILE SERVICE CREWS WORK ON GETTING OUT THERE. >> YEAH, I CAN’T SPEAK TO THIS SPECIFIC FAMILY BUT IT LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE SEVERAL POWER POLES OUT IN GALT. WE DON’T EXPECT POWER RESTORATION UNTIL THE FIFTH, WHICH IS TWO MORE DAYS. >> WHITE HOPES THAT HELP CAN COME SOONER. >> I UNDERSTAND. THE WORK CREWS ARE ALL WORKING HARD. THERE SHOULD BE SOME PRIORITY. A TRAPPED FAMILY SHOULD BE A PRIORITY. >> IN GALT, JOSIE HEART, KCRA 3 NEWS. ANDREA: THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY REMAIN WITHOUT POWER. ACCORDING TO THE SMUD POWER OUTAGE MAP, ABOUT 1600 CUSTOMERS ARE WITHOUT POWER. THAT’S DOWN FROM NEARLY 200,000 CUSTOMERS ON FRIDAY NIGHT. NOW HERE IS A LOOK AT THE PG&E OUTAGE PAGE. THOUSANDS OF CUSTOMERS STILL WITHOUT POWER. ESPECIALLY AROUND THE STOCKTON AND LODI AREA. A LARGE PORTION OF THE DELTA PLUS WOODLAND AND KNIGHTS LANDING ARE ALSO IMPACTED. TY: AND WATER LEVELS ALONG THE AMERICAN RIVER REMAIN HIGH TONIGHT. PARTS OF DISCOVERY PARK ARE FLOODED. HIGH WATER COVERS THE BOAT LAUNCH. AND ONE OF THE RESTROOMS IS FLOODED. THE FLOODING LED TO THE CLOSURE OF THIS PARK. AND SACRAMENTO COUNTY IS ALSO CLOSING ALL OF ITS PARKS AHEAD OF TOMORROW’S WIND, AS IS THE CITY OF STOCKTON. ANDREA: INMATES HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED FROM THE RIO COSUMNES CORRECTIONAL CENTER. A TEMPORARY DAM IS BEING INSTALLED AROUND THE FACILITY. THE DAM GOING IN IS CALLED A TIGER DAM. SACRAMENTO COUNTY DEPUTIES SAY IT’LL HELP PREVENT ANY FLOODING AT THE JAIL. THERE HASN’T BEEN ANY DAMAGE SO FAR. THE JAIL DID FLOOD BACK IN 2017. WITH THE BREAK IN RAIN, DEPUTIES SAY THEY WANT TO TAKE PRECAUTIONS NOW. NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS AND COSUMNES FIRE CREWS ARE INSTALLING THAT DAM. AS YOU CAN SEE HERE. IT’S BEING PAID FOR WITH A GRANT FROM THE OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES AND CAL-WATER. TY: AND THIS YEAR’S START TO THE WET SEASON IS ONE OF THE BEST IN 40 YEARS. THAT’S ACCORDING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES AT TODAY’S SNOW SURVEY AT PHILLIPS STATION. THE SNOW DEPTH THIS MORNING WAS 55.5 INCHES WITH A WATER CONTENT OF 17.5 INCHES. THAT WATER CONTENT IS 177% OF AVERAGE FOR TODAY’S DATE AND 72% OF THE AVERAGE ON APRIL 1. NOW, WHILE WE ARE OFF TO A GOOD START, WE STILL NEED MORE SNOW OVER THE NEXT THREE MONTHS. >> NO SINGLE STORM EVENT WILL END THE DROUGHT. WE WILL NEED CONSECUTIVE STORMS , YOU KNOW, MONTH AFTER MONTH AFTER MONTH OF ABOVE AVERAGE RAIN, SNOW, AND RUNOFF TO HELP REALLY FILL OUR RESERVOIRS. SO THAT WE CAN REALLY START DIGGING OURSELVES OUT OF EXTREME DROUGHT. TY: SO, CONSISTENCY HERE IS THE KEY. LAST YEAR, THE STATEWIDE SNOWPACK WAS 147% OF AVERAGE. BUT APRIL 1, S