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Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009

Trees fall on cars, houses, streets as storm rips through Modesto

Rainfall sets record for October day

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(Update, 8:45 a.m.) Torrential Tuesday gave way to a relatively calm Wednesday morning for Modesto residents.

"This morning is nice and quiet so far," said Modesto Fire Department Battalion Hugo Patino, whose department answered 209 calls on Tuesday, about double of a typical day. "The wind stopped blowing so bad and curtailed our problem. With the amount of moisture in the ground, we'll see some stuff down today."

There has been no recorded amount of rain in downtown Modesto today, according to the Modesto Irrigation District. That comes after a Tuesday that saw 1.82 inches fall on the city, a record for any single October day.

However, Felix Garcia, meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said this morning that there will be a few more showers this afternoon, but that "the worst is over."

He said to expect moderate to strong showers later this morning and into the afternoon, with winds about 15 to 25 mph and gusts up to 35 mph. He said the storm that battered Northern California won't clear out until later tonight.

Gary Hayward, Stanislaus County Roads Superintendent, said his crew worked until 1 a.m. this morning, and are back at it right now clearing debris and tending to a few flooded roads.

"We're getting some flooding calls, but it's a lot calmer today," he said. "I didn't know what today would be like. I watched three different newscasts and they were all different.

"But we survived pretty good."

Hayward, who has been with the department 30 years, said it was a "typical storm for us ... nothing outstanding or overwhelming."

He said he had wished it had happened closer to the end of the fiscal year in July for budgeting purposes.

He said he felt the constraints of the tight county budget to an extent.

"We haven't filled four positions and usually this time of year we have 10 to 12 part-timers," he said.

But overall, he said, he felt his department handled things well under the circumstances.

"We survived pretty good," he said.

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No one could blame Modesto residents Lucy and Jesus Ornelas if they believed Tuesday's storm, which toppled more than 140 trees in the city, singled them out.

Jesus Ornelas was pulling away from the curb when a neighbor's tree fell and hit his truck. It dented the roof and shattered the windshield.

He was shook up but OK.

Just 15 minutes later, a tree in the Ornelas front yard fell onto the home's roof.

"I was in shock," said Jesus Ornelas, who lives with his wife on Weldon Avenue. "I cannot believe it. This thing happened to my truck and my house. It's incredible."

While Modesto reached a record for rain on an October day, it was wind gusts of as much as 40 mph that wreaked havoc, sending trees and debris into houses, cars and streets.

Modesto Police Department spokesman Brian Findlen said the storm was the most significant wind event in 10 years based on the damage it caused.

"We have trees down on virtually every street in the city," he said. City crews were working to make roads passable, "but we are at the whim of Mother Nature."

About 1.79 inches of rain fell on Modesto by 10 p.m., according to the Modesto Irrigation District. That tops the record of 1.75 inches, set Oct. 7, 1973, according to the MID, which keeps records dating to 1888.

The wet weather is expected to linger through this afternoon, and the wind should decrease tonight, said National Weather Service meteorologist Felix Garcia.

That's not soon enough for Lucy Ornelas, who plans to file a claim against the city because of the tree that struck her home.