The recently daylighted creek running through the Auburn School Park Preserve looked more like a rushing river on Friday afternoon. Photo courtesy City of Auburn.
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Thousands were without power for days in Placer County as a series of powerful storms ripped through the state, bringing heavy rain and gale-force winds between Thursday and Sunday of last week.Trees and power lines toppled over, damaging homes and blocking roadways from the coast to the Sierra Nevada. On Saturday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Sacramento, Glen and Kings counties. Monday, he added Placer County to the list along with Yolo, Sutter, San Francisco, Yuba and Butte. “Hard-hit areas such as ... Auburn and the Sierra Nevada foothills are projected to (have power) restored late Wednesday,” according to a press release issued by the Pacific Gas & Electric Company. Wednesday is after the Sentinel’s press deadline. At Auburn Recreation District’s Recreation Park, large trees and
branches succumbed to the storm, forcing the evacuation of the modular
“clubhouse” units. “We kept losing trees and branches in rapid
succession (on Friday) so we evacuated the children from the modulars
and moved them to the main building,” said Kahl Muscott, ARD
administrator. “It became a safety issue. We called all the parents and
told them to pick up their children at the main building.”
Cleanup was underway as more rain was expected through Thursday of this week. “At
Recreation Park, we had five people (on Monday) working on cleanup,” he
said. “At Regional, we had three people working on tree detail.” Kahl said Recreation Park lost about three “good-sized trees” and many large branches. “One
of the big branches that came down just missed the new picnic shelter
we built last year as part of Project Auburn,” he said. Auburn City Manager Bob Richardson praised city staff for being prepared and responding quickly. “Staff
was prepared more than 24 hours in advance and did an excellent job
trying to keep up with the impact of the storm, especially during the
afternoon,” Richardson said. While it will take weeks to assess any damage, Richardson said cleanup is under way.
“It’s anticipated that most cleanup will be completed by midweek,” he said. Lincoln fared better than most Placer County communities, according to public information officer Jill Thompson. “We suffered minimal damage,” she said. She is still waiting for official damage estimates to report to the county.
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