Brief respite before storms' wrath returns

Soaked valley addresses mess and braces for more

By BEN van der MEER
bvandermeer@modbee.com

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Northern San Joaquin Valley residents and public works crews recovering from a punishing storm got a much-needed chance to clean up Saturday.

That was before late afternoon rains brought more street flooding and at least one downed tree in Modesto.

"We're just cleaning up yesterday's messes," said Rodney Clark, an arborist with Modesto public works, before the day's 0.61 inches of rain fell downtown.

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Clark and his crew can expect a lot more work in the coming days.

The National Weather Service's Sacramento office predicted more rain in the valley and the foothills today, with some clearing Monday, then more showers until Thursday.

That's not good for the already soaked region and state, which re- ported two deaths attributed to storms, and declared emergencies in three counties.

Among Saturday's developments:

A Yuba County transportation worker died Friday night after he was struck by a falling branch. One woman died early Saturday when a vehicle was swept off a flooded road in Southern California.

Rain and wind from the new storm arrived before the last storm had finished, and dumped more than 5 feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada. Combined, the back-to-back storms were on pace to dump as much as 9 feet of snow on mountaintops.

Gov. Schwarzenegger declared emergencies in three hard-hit counties -- Sacramento, Kings and Glenn.

In Southern California, thousands of residents were urged to stay away from homes that could be threatened by flooding and slides in wildfire-scarred areas, but mandatory evacuation orders were lifted.

About 120,000 homes and businesses from the Bay Area to the Central Valley were without power Saturday, down from more than 1.6 million Friday, according to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and other regional utility providers. Some residents in remote coastal and mountain areas could be without power for several more days, said PG&E spokesman David Eisenhauer.

To the east, a deluged canal levee ruptured early Saturday near Reno, sending 3 feet of water flowing through hundreds of homes, temporarily trapping 3,500 people in the town of Fernley, Nev.

In Modesto, as of 10 p.m. Saturday, the three storms that had moved through the area over the past three days dropped 2.38 inches of rain, the Modesto Irrigation District recorded.

More street flooding was seen throughout Modesto, Ceres, Turlock, Keyes and Oakdale on Saturday night.

Another tree fell and damaged a roof about 5 p.m. at a home in the 300 block of Jones Street, just east of McHenry Avenue, said Modesto Fire Battalion Chief Sean Slamon. The damage was not severe and left behind only a leaky roof, he said.

Earlier in the day, public works crews drained flooded streets and scooped up branches and debris, leftovers from Friday's winds and rain.

Clark, who was wielding a chain saw as part of a crew that was disposing of a fallen ash tree on Orange Avenue in the college neighborhood, said winds took down some of the tree's branches Friday. Then, when crews inspected the tree, they discovered it was mostly rotten inside.

"I'm surprised it didn't go over already," he said, as another crew member piloted a machine that lopped off the stump and deposited it in a waste hauler.

Many of the trees in that neighborhood, near Modesto Junior College, were planted in the 1940s, so strong storms often take them out, Clark said.

Trees and branches eventually become mulch at a city compost yard, he said.

Water, water everywhere

In east Modesto, public works crews tackled a different storm-related problem, as a two-man crew drained flooded streets near Yosemite Avenue.