Small Sacramento County community remains without power, water after weekend storm
HERALD — Some SMUD customers in the community of Herald are dealing with no electricity and no water.
That's because they use well water connected to electric pumps, and SMUD has no estimate of when they can turn either back on.
Jeffery Bond showed the aftermath of the massive windstorm at his home in Herald, which is located east of Galt.
"So right now, no water, no showers, no hygiene, no dishes," Bond said. "I got nothing. We're bone dry."
The wells that are connected to his home need electricity to work.
"Anger, frustration. Yeah, I'd like a little bit more update from SMUD," Bond said. "I know they were overwhelmed. Everybody is calling, loading up their system."
Outside Bond's home, there were signs of just how strong the windstorm was here; a massive eucalyptus tree uprooted in his front yard.
"Like a horror movie," Bond said. "The wind on this hill was out-of-this-world crazy."
Francisco Zambrano is a tree trimmer who was called to Herald to help clean up.
"It's bad. In 23 years that I've been doing it, I've never seen it that bad," Zambrano said. "Stuff flying away."
Herald is at the bottom of the SMUD priority list for restoring power. Customer service areas with more widespread outages will get attention first.
"I would hope that I would learn from this," Bond said, "and prepare better."
Living off the grid, in rural Sacramento County, this extreme weather forces homeowners to practice extreme patience as they wait for their power and water to work again.
SMUD said there is no estimate on how long before power will be turned on in Herald as they are still assessing the damage.
Monday night, Bond said SMUD reached out to him offering a hotel room since there is no estimate for when he can get his power restored. He did not take SMUD's offer.
As of Monday night, SMUD was reporting that about 400 customers were without power in the Herald and Wilton areas.
