Power outages, road hazards mount as winter storm hits Central Valley

High winds, heavy rain and snowfall swept across the Central Valley as a series of storms hit Monday.

A lamp post was toppled and debris was scattered on the floor of an apartment complex in Kerman.

Santiago Perez lives in the complex and said he saw pieces of a metal roof flying through the air within seconds.

“Did he pass by here quickly?” we asked. “Yes, very quickly, the wind,” Perez said.

Brief, heavy downpours were observed across the valley.

PG&E crews were on scene with heavy machinery at Villa near Shaw to restore power to hundreds of customers who were left in the dark due to a falling utility pole.

The energy company’s main concern for the coming days is soil saturation.

“There is concern that it may not take as much wind to blow vegetation onto power lines and cause outages,” said Jeff Smith, a PG&E spokesman.

PG&E says it has mobilized crews and activated its switching center to monitor outages and restore power more quickly.

“So far the impact has been minimal; we’ve had some situations where several thousand customers were out for a shorter period of time and we were able to redirect those customers to other channels,” says Smith.

A car crashed into the center divider on Highway 168 in east-central Fresno.

On Highway 99, a car spun, leaving lanes two and three blocked and causing traffic to back up. All day long, slippery roads made travel dangerous.

“We’re seeing a lot of accidents here along the valley on the highways,” said Officer Mike Salas of the California Highway Patrol.

Drivers are now being asked to prepare for hazardous conditions over the coming days.

Check things like windshield wipers, tire tread, tire pressure, and headlights.

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