11:40 A.M. The City of Sacramento is also preparing for the big storm.
The Sacramento Department of Utilities plans to open an operations center with staff on 12-hour shifts to respond to possible flooding or clogged storm drains. The City's Department of Public Works says it will have crews on-call to handle downed trees or tree limbs and traffic signal outages.
City officials say crews may not be able to collect garbage, yard waste and recycling Thursday due to possible high winds, driving hazards or street flooding. The city says crews will return Friday or Saturday if necessary.
The city is also offering two areas where people can pick up sandbags at no charge: The North Area Corporation Yard, 918 Del Paso Road, at the Kenmar Road yard entrance, and the City’s flood warehouse, at 6150 27th Street.
For downed trees or branches in the roadway: call 311 or 916-875-4311(trees on private property are owner’s responsibility)
For water/ drainage issues or localized street flooding: call 916-875-RAIN.
Information on creek levels: please check out the Storm Ready website and follow the link to Stream Levels (ALERT)
For electrical power outages in Sacramento County contact SMUD at 1-888-456-7683 or PG&E at 1-800-743-5000.
8 A.M. Wednesday is a day to prepare for battening down the hatches if you haven't already done so. Forecasters say the strong storm they're expecting will likely start moving in Wednesday night with some light rain.
Tom Dang is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. He says the brunt of the storm hits Thursday afternoon.
"The wind will really start picking up overnight tonight and into Thursday morning," says Dang. "The heaviest precipitation will probably hold off until mid-day Thursday and continue on through Thursday evening."
Dang says the region will see anywhere from two to four inches of rain -- flooding is likely and even flash flooding is possible. The winds will be heavy with this storm with up to 65 mile an hour gusts expected.
The storm will also bring some snow to higher elevations-- around 6,500 feet. But with the winds, that could bring whiteout conditions in the upper elevations.
-Capital Public Radio Staff
Resources and Links:
Business, School Closures:
- The Sacramento Zoo will be closed Dec. 11 due to the storm
Severe Weather Public Information Map: Tracks weather watches, warnings and live precipitation.
Flooding Public Information Map: Flooding information and warnings from NOAA and the National Weather Service.
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