High Wind And Heavy Rain Tear Through Sacramento Valley In Second Winter Storm
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - The valley is seeing power outages, downed trees, and flooded streets.
It's weather like this that makes the city's lack of resources tough for the city's homeless community.
Jim and Cathy Baker are trying to keep warm inside their car outside their Fair Oaks home.
"It went through the roof in the bedroom," Jim said.
The wind knocked a tree into the power lines and pushed a transformer pole straight through the roof of the Baker's bedroom.
"I was sitting by the front windows and heard the crack and saw the tree coming down in front of the windows I hopped up and thought where is it safe to go?" Cathy Baker said.
The transformer is now leaking oil, which could expose them to toxic chemicals.
"They asked us to stay out until SMUD comes to turn off the electricity, and hopefully SMUD will take away the transformer because I don't need it there," said Jim Baker.
In Sacramento, localized flooding is happening on some Sacramento streets. The wind took some tarps off tents near Loaves and Fishes in Sacramento. This winter weather is especially rough for the thousands of homeless who live in the city.
Gregg Fishman with the City of Sacramento said, "We are doing the best we can with the resources we have available, and that's both people, human resources, and space resources. We need more in both."
He says the city will open a respite center for the homeless overnight inside the lobby of City Hall.
"It's not an ideal setting but it's what we have available, so we are making it work," said Fishman.
City leaders say they're hoping to bring more resources, like an ongoing respite center, but there's no official timetable yet.
