Storm lashes Lodi

Lodi police Officer Misty Smith checks the overhead trees as she looks for the registration of a Nissan pickup damaged by a falling tree limb on Pine Street in Lodi on Wednesday. (Casey Freeman/News-Sentinel) For more photos from Wednesday's storm, see our photo gallery.

Storm lashes Lodi

By Jennifer Pearson Bonnett
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Thursday, February 26, 2004 5:44 PM PST

Comments (No comments posted.)

Mother nature lashed the Lodi area Wednesday when the skies opened and dumped a deluge of horizontal bone-biting rain. But the strong wind was the bigger issue.

The wind knocked down utility poles, caused numerous car accidents and even directly caused Kettleman Lane in Lodi to be closed in both directions for more than two hours.

The powerful winter storm that swept through Northern California -- described by weather forecasters as one of the biggest of the season -- kept local firefighters, police officers and volunteers, tree crews and utility workers hopping most of the day. Among other things, they tended to flooded streets, clogged traffic and residents without power.

Work should let up today with forecasted scattered showers on into the night and possible thunderstorms, said Kayda Muckey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

"It's going to be hit and miss, and the showers might be heavier," she said. "Thursday night showers are predicted as well as into Friday."

Paul Yeager, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather, a private forecasting company, predicted a high of 59 and a low of 42 for the area.

On the AccuWeather Web site, a satellite picture of the storm looked like a large swirl over most of California with parts of it affecting Oregon and up into Washington.

"Wind gusts were pretty darn impressive," Yeager said.

Wednesday's storm formed over the Pacific Ocean a few days ago, hit the California coast near the Oregon border late Tuesday night and reached the Bay Area by early Wednesday morning. High winds started howling in Lodi just before 5 a.m.

See our photo gallery for more photos from Wednesday's storm.

Winds picked up to more than a reported 50 mph at the Stockton airport and close to 55 to 60 mph in other parts of the region.

At 6 a.m., Lodi Police Officer Dennis Lewis started his day shift running -- and was still running at 8:30 a.m., when he was dispatched to a call of a fallen redwood tree into a house in the 500 block of East Elm Street. He witnessed firefighters rescue Rosa Ramirez, who was trapped in her bedroom under debris, including insulation and broken ceiling joists.

Ramirez was taken by ambulance to Lodi Memorial Hospital with a possible dislocated right shoulder, Fire Capt. Sandy Wichman said.

Ramirez' condition was unavailable.

"I figure we'll be doing this all day," Lewis said Wednesday morning.

In its path, the tree with an 8-to-10-foot root ball also snapped limbs of a nearby tree and crushed the car port of a neighboring apartment complex destroying a sedan. A sport utility vehicle parked in the next-door stall escaped without even a scratch.

Nearby residents stood around eyeing another tree as it bounced in the rain.

Rain-soaked ground and high winds are the perfect recipe to cause trees to fall, Wichman said.

"We haven't had wind like this in at least a month," he said.

Nearby, Public Works crews were cleaning up another downed tree in the 200 block of East Pine Street near Central Avenue. It fell atop a parked pick-up truck and threatened to take a second tree down.

Two blocks away, Police Partners were guarding the Pine Street railroad crossing where a gate had snapped and was lying on the roadway. The volunteers were on scene to stop traffic in case a train came through.

That wasn't going to happen after 11 a.m., however.

A Chevy Suburban throws up a giant spray from standing water as it enters the intersection of Chestnut Drive and Mokelumne Street in Woodbridge early Wednesday. (Jerry R. Tyson/News-Sentinel)

At that time, a freight train traveling along the tracks over Kettleman Lane hit a utility pole knocked over by high winds near Stockton Street. The force of the impact pulled utility lines from other nearby poles.

No city-owned electrical lines were involved, although other companies were affected, Lodi Electric Utility Director Alan Vallow said.

On Kettleman Lane, traffic in both directions was diverted through surrounding neighborhoods because of the downed utility lines laying across the road after the train accident. Cable company lines were wrapped around its engine, Fire Capt. Ken Mackey said.

California Department of Transportation workers were also on scene directing traffic with the help of the Public Works Department.

Mackey's crew had been called there on report of a transformer fire when they spotted a pole leaning over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

"Just as we got here, we saw the pole, and then bam! The whole thing went down, snapping lines from here to Church Street," he said.

Showers to continue

Scattered showers and possible thunderstorms should persist through Friday as a storm that struck Lodi on Wednesday will continue.

The brunt of the storm hit the Lodi area early Wednesday morning and lasted throughout much of the day. Heavy winds of up to 60 mph knocked down power lines, flooded streets and stalled a train on the Kettleman Lane overpass.

Winds will die down today, said Paul Yeager, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather, a private forecasting company.

Expect a mostly cloudy day with showers and a high of 56. Tonight's low will be 43.

Showers will continue through Friday. Saturday will be partly sunny with a high of 61.

-- News-Sentinel staff

The train, hitting the pole and dragging with it utility lines, subsequently broke four to five additional utility poles and sent nearby lines flapping in the wind above the northbound stoplight on South Stockton Street at Kettleman Lane. Other lines lay on the ground in back yards in the 0-100 block of Lowe Street and on Kettleman Lane under the bridge.

Mackey said the lines were owned by Pacific Gas & Electric, SBC and Comcast. Cable service was disrupted for much of the afternoon and into the evening.

"This is kind of the Bermuda triangle where all the lines come into the city," Mackey said.

No one was injured, although the train's crew was asked to stay inside the engine's cab until the lines could be deactivated.

Drivers of the two vehicles that managed to get by the roadblocks were cited by Lodi Police.

The train was a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train operating on Union Pacific Railroad tracks, said John Bromley, Union Pacific spokesman.

There was one delayed train that had to wait an hour while stuck behind the first train, but no freight trains had to be rerouted, Bromley said.

An Amtrak passenger train headed north from Bakersfield to Sacramento, however, was delayed for 80 minutes, spokeswoman Sarah Swain said.

The roadway opened to motorists around 2 p.m.

Into the elements

Although there weren't many people out braving the wicked weather Wednesday, crowds leaving the afternoon showing of "The Passion of the Christ" at the Lodi Stadium 12 found high wind and hard rain outside the theater.

Some came prepared, pulling out umbrellas as they stepped into the elements. Others, including Lodi resident Rhonda Wasmundt, were forced to either run for cover or get soaked.

Emergency numbers

Wet, windy weather can bring incidents like downed power lines, street flooding, and power outages.

If a power line breaks, it is important to not go anywhere near it. Instead, call the Pacific Gas & Electric company or 911 immediately.

"If there is a downed power line, stay as far away as possible," Barnett said Emily Barnett, a spokeswoman for PG&E. "Call 911 or PG&E."

The same is true for gas leaks.

PG&E has an emergency phone number to report such emergencies, (800) PGE-5000. If your power has been out for more than 48 hours, PG&E has a separate number, (888) 743-4743.

The city of Lodi Utilities also has a 24-hour emergency line that can respond to power and plumbing emergencies, including flooded streets. That number is 368-5735.

For information on road emergencies and other conditions, tune to radio 1250-AM.

In Galt, call the Sacramento Municipal Utility District to report power outages and downed power lines, (888) 456-SMUD (7683).

For flooded Galt streets, call the City of Galt's Public Works Department at 366-7260.

-- News-Sentinel staff

"I haven't seen anything like this all year," said Wasmundt, who used a small purse to cover her head as she hurried toward her SUV. "I thought it would be done by the time (the movie) got out. It wasn't."

An umbrella wasn't the only thing Jose Maya was caught without. The Lodi resident rode his bike to work the night before, unaware of the downpour that would follow the next morning.

"I work graveyards, so I wasn't expecting this kind of weather," Maya said.

Sandy Dykema and a group of friends were among the lucky umbrella holders outside the theater. She said she knew the rain wasn't going to let up going into the movie -- and given the religious significance of both the premiere of "The Passion" and the Ash Wednesday observance -- weather patterns might not be the only thing behind it.

"With all the spiritual elements involved, (the weather) doesn't surprise me," Dykema said.

Power outages affect area

The city hired two contract tree crews to help remove 16 downed trees, said George Bradley, street superintendent. One tree, in the county on Thornton Road near Eight Mile Road, had to be cut in half to clear the roadway.

Countless branches littered both city and county roads.

In addition to the trees on East Pine and East Elm streets, a cedar fell in the 500 of East Walnut Street and a palm toppled on Hutchins Street near Vine Street blocking traffic.

As of noon, between 10 and 15 trees had fallen on county roads, said Tom Caldwell, road maintenance superintendent for San Joaquin County Public Works.

"We have trees down all over, a lot of roads blocked, some power poles down," he said.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said 159,000 customers in its service region, which runs from Bakersfield to the Oregon border, had lost power at some point Wednesday morning, said spokeswoman Christy Dennis. The Bay Area was hit particularly hard with 76,000 customers losing power.

"We are seeing the numbers steadily increase as the storm continues to batter much of California," Dennis said.

All of the utility's work crews were working to restore power at more than 650 locations where power had been cut, mostly by downed power lines and broken poles, she said.

In Lodi, there were four minor outages reported by late morning.

"So far, we're holding it together pretty well," Vallow said at that time.

The first outage happened at 9:02 a.m. and affected 931 customers for 18 minutes, said Sonny Harris, operations supervisor for Lodi Electric Utility.

"It was all due to trees falling into lines and the winds."

About an hour later, another batch of customers went without power for about two hours. By 12:11 p.m., all electricity had been restored, Harris said.

As of 3 p.m., 650 PG&E customers in Galt and 2,200 in Acampo were still in the dark, said Emily Barnett, a spokeswoman for PG&E.

The company had crews coordinating with in-house meteorologists, she said.

"We've been restoring throughout the day as outages have come in this morning."

At the Orchard Super Hardware store on Cherokee Lane, Lodians came in for batteries, flashlights and rain gear.

"We've had a few people come in and buy those waterproof boots," said cashier Daniel Williams.

"It got a little bit busier about 11 a.m.," he continued. "It wasn't really madness, just a few people planning ahead."

Paula Magana needed more than boots and a flashlight.

He was trying to adjust his satellite at his house on Highway 12 near Ray Road when the electricity started to falter for four to five minutes. Then all of a sudden he heard a loud explosion and ran into his son's bedroom to wake him when the house lit up and there was a second explosion.

Sparks from the northeast corner of the house led him to a transformer on the ground. Magana and his son evacuated the house and had to wait for a PG&E crew to arrive to retrieve a small dog left inside.

Other issues that sent crews scrambling Wednesday included:

• Lines down across the roadway at Highway 12 at Cord Road.

• A utility pole sheered in two in the 15000 block of Kettleman Lane.

• Electric lines reported down and arching on Cluff Road and at Davis and DeVries roads.

• Telephone lines down on Victor Road near Kroll Road.

Heavy rain, wind and flooding

Altogether, the storm dumped moderate to heavy rain over a wide swath of Northern California causing roadway flooding and sending waterways closer to their banks. San Francisco reported about 1.5 inches of rain, while northern Sonoma County saw more than 3 inches, the National Weather Service said.

In Lodi, .71 inches fell, according to Fire Station No. 3 which provides rainfall totals for Lodi. The high was 61 degrees with a low of 38. For the season, 13.31 inches of rain have fallen on Lodi, 3.50 of that coming this month.

Rain in the valley means snow in the high country. The National Weather Service is forecasting 1 to 2 feet of snow in areas above 5,000 feet by tonight and up to 4 feet by Friday.

The NorthStar ski resort in Lake Tahoe is expecting 8 inches of new snow this morning. The resort will be open today, with windy conditions and more possible snowfall throughout the day and evening.

Lodi residents unfortunate to have a Wednesday refuse pick up, may have lost their garbage cans in the wind, which was also a problem Wednesday.

Gusts were measured at 50 to 55 mph, Caldwell said.

By 4 p.m., however, they had died down to 7 mph, the Stockton Fire Dispatch reported.

The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department also was kept busy responding to alarms set off by wind gusts and power outages.

"We have to treat every alarm as if it is a real alarm," said Sgt. Chris Stevens.

Fierce wind and heavy rain also pelted the Sacramento area, where a section of Interstate 5 in Yolo County near Sacramento International Airport was flooded, and traffic was diverted early Wednesday morning, said CHP Officer Don Oxley.

"This is the busiest log I've ever seen," said Oxley, reading from a list of car crashes, downed trees and nonfunctioning traffic lights in Sacramento County.

In Lodi, three vehicles tangled in an accident at Lockeford and Calaveras streets that sent two people to the hospital. But it did not appear to be weather related, Motor Officer Chuck Fromm said.

Throughout the day there were a handful of other vehicle accidents, but nothing serious.

"We've had busier days," Fromm said.

There were no major accidents in the California Highway Patrol jurisdiction near Lodi, spokesman Ted Montez said.

Officers were kept more than busy, though. On a busy day, the Stockton-based CHP office gets more than 800 calls in 24 hours, but Montez said he wouldn't be surprised if the office had as many as 1,000 calls.

Many of those calls were for downed wires or vehicle spin-outs on the slick roads, Montez said.

A head-on collision occurred at Highway 88 and Cherry Avenue in Lockeford, but nobody was injured.

Flooding was also a concern although Lodi streets were spared, City Engineer Wally Sandelin said.

"That's good news," he said. "At 2 (p.m.), most of the basins were still empty which meant there were no heavy flows going out of the pipes."

A car is trapped underneath its carport Wednesday after a large redwood tree fell over and injured a woman sleeping in her home on East Elm Street. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

In Woodbridge, the roadway was flooded near the round-about on Mokelumne Street.

While rain came down hard at times, it did not create any threats of major floods at either the Pardee or Camanche reservoirs. Water levels were expected to rise 3 to 5 feet by Friday at Pardee, said Jeff Becerra, a spokesman for the East Bay Municipal Utility District which operates the two dams at the reservoirs.

By mid-afternoon, the rain had let up and the sun even made an appearance allowing time for crews to get a handle on clean-up efforts. A rainbow could be seen to the east.

"All of my people went home by 4 p.m.," Bradley said. "The main priority was clearing the right of ways, and we did that.

"We will be cleaning up over the next two weeks to get our town back to the pristine level we expect it to be in."

News-Sentinel staff writers Alejandro Lazo, Layla Bohm and Greg Kane, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact reporter Jennifer Pearson Bonnett at jenniferb@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

Comments on this story are now closed.

Archives

Story Tools

Indexes

Storm lashes Lodi

Reader Feedback

Special Sections

Photo Reprints

Find Ads

Weather

Services

Contact Us

Office

Newsroom

Subscriptions

Advertising

Classifieds