OROVILLE — As many residents and businesses in Butte County remained in the dark Monday morning because of widespread power outages from the overnight storm, officials began assessing damages.
PG&E worked on restoring power Monday morning and about 13,000 customers in Butte County were still without power by 4 p.m. with a transmission level outage in Paradise, the utility said Monday afternoon.
Oroville officials react
In a text to Mayor David Pittman and Oroville City Council members Monday morning, City Administrator Brian Ring said city staff including Public Works, who worked through the night and returned early in the morning, were “monitoring infrastructure and clearing debris in the public right of way.”
“There was a huge amount of tree damage,” said Pittman. “We haven’t seen any significant infrastructure damage but we are still assessing for structural damage to things like roof tiles and lighter-weight building. The crews are out working to clear roadways and make things safer.”
Of particular concern said Pittman was that approximately 50% of the city’s traffic lights were not working due to the power outages. The mayor said that he’d spoken with PG&E early in the morning and was told that power would be restored area-wide by 4 p.m.
“I thought that was a pretty strong statement to make. I was impressed,” he said. “And then the power started creeping back on much earlier than that so I have to thank PG&E. They are working all over town.”
Oroville Police Chief Bill LaGrone said he’d already planned for potential problems from the storm so had already scheduled enough staff and didn’t need to call in additional help.
“There’s minor wind damage that I’m aware of but nothing super big was touched off by the storm,” said LaGrone.
He did say he is attributing an overnight “string of burglaries” in the industrial area along South Fifth Avenue to the power outage but that suspects were in custody and about $10,000 in property had been recovered by Monday morning.
In his morning text to elected officials, Ring also stated, “The county is considering declaring a local emergency. Depending on what we discover this morning as far as any damages and our costs associated with this event – we may as well. This would enable the city to recoup some of these unanticipated costs.”
“We’re talking about (declaring a local emergency). We’ll compare what the county is doing and check in with Chico too. It might be better to do a countywide one that would include everyone,” said Pittman. “There’s more storms coming in with wind events so this may not be over yet.”
Debris, trees, mud
Sunday’s storm packed quite a punch in Butte County, bringing strong wind, torrential rain, flooding and power outages ripping through the county.
Joshua Pack, Butte County Public Works Director, said his team cleared over 100 trees which had fallen on county roads Monday. They were also evaluating damage to bridgeways and waterways.
“It’s a risk to staff because of severe conditions,” Pack said.
The Butte County emergency phone line logged 51 service requests from California Highway Patrol and Cal Fire-Butte County personnel reporting downed trees. Crews have mostly focused on clearing trees and addressing local flooding, according to a press release.
Crews removed debris, trees and mud. Some of the cleanup efforts were complicated by downed power and communication lines, requiring communication with PG&E and AT&T, according to the release.
Six locations on Quincy Highway, from French Creek to Brush Creek, had many downed trees and damaged guardrails. The approximate extent of the damage is currently being evaluated, according to the release.
Flooding is local, with temporary closures on parts of Hamilton Nord Cana, Nord Gianella, West Sacramento, River Road, Nelson Road, Central House, Lower and Middle Honcut and Lonetree.
Infrastructure inspections are continuing with special attention being paid to roads, bridges, signs, waterways and signal lights. Signal lights were down in Magalia, but temporary stop signs were installed. The Neal Road Recycling and Waste Facility is still open.
For further information and updates, visit the Butte County website or contact Butte County Public Works directly.
Power outages
High winds Sunday night caused outages to 40,000 customers in Butte County, said Joe Wilson, regional vice president for PG&E north valley and Sierra region.
“We expect to have most customers, where there is access, to be restored Thursday. In areas where there’s limited access, it may be a little bit longer,” Wilson said.
Journeymen linemen with Par West were working Monday on restoring a downed transmission line on the Skyway near Princeton Way. The power line appeared to have been taken down by a tree. About three work trucks were parked as lineman worked through periods of rain and hail.
“When there’s a transmission level outage, it means that power can’t get to the substation which won’t get to the distribution lines serving homes and businesses out there,” Wilson said.
PG&E Marketing and Communications Specialist Paul Moreno confirmed a tree fell into the transmission line and caused wires to go down.
Wilson said there is no estimated completion date for restoration, and customers can see outage status at https://pgealerts.alerts.pge.com/outage-tools/outage-map.
By 4 p.m. PG&E’s website reported there were still 275 outages in the county affecting 13,055 customers.
Paradise Public Works Director and Town Engineer Marc Mattox said primary damage caused by the storm in Paradise affected public roads which were cleared overnight.
Mattox said 15 traffic signal generators were installed to help keep intersections signalized without power.
Magalia residents were without power Monday morning. Some people at the Chevron gas station filled up gallon containers for their generators at home.
Resident Jim Wolf while filling his gas container said Sunday night’s storm felt similar to storms in 2023.
Magalia resident Kittie Sivers said she noticed power went out around 7 p.m. Sunday, and has been running a generator at home for health compromised family.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to be out so I wanted to make sure I had enough gas,” Sivers said.
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