A local emergency status was declared by Nevada County’s Board of Supervisors Tuesday due to the numerous storms that have swept across the area since the beginning of the year.
Craig Griesbach, director of Emergency Services, went before the supervisors during Tuesday’s meeting to ask for assistance in aiding those whose property or homes have been affected by the heavy rain, wind gusts, and snow.
“The recent winter storms starting at the end of December and continuing into this week have brought several atmospheric river events, high winds, and significant snowfall at higher elevations,” said Griesbach. “The substantial amount of precipitation and high winds have created a threat of mud and debris flow across county roads, drainages, and burn scar areas. We have received some damage to some county roads due to fallen trees, debris flows, and culvert failures. Our county road crews have been doing an excellent job responding to these issues and implementing preventative measures.”
Griesbach added that the county has also experienced several power outages due to trees across power lines and associated storm damage.
“We have been partnering closely with PG&E representatives and their crews have expeditiously been repairing systems,” he said. “We have been working very closely with our partners including first responders, Cal OES, National Weather Service, water agencies, schools, cities, and town partners.”
Of note, Griesbach continued, was the threat to resources, including fuel delivery systems like propane. He encouraged residents to search both in and out of the county for these resources if they are experiencing a delay in their normal service.
“We continue to encourage our residents to be prepared prior to additional storm events by ensuring they have a secondary source of heat, vehicles have full tanks of gas, they have fuel for generators, making sure they have enough groceries for 72 hours, (and) charging all devices, including medical devices,” said Griesbach.
Griesbach reminded citizens to call 211 for non-emergencies, and to avoid flooded roads or roads with trees across them. He also advised securing household items that might blow away in high winds.
Four locations are available locally for residents to pick up free sand bag materials for water mitigation purposes. Those locations can be found by calling 211 or visiting www.nevadacountyca.gov/1240/Sand-Sandbags-Available. Those looking to fill sandbags are reminded to bring their own shovels.
“It’s important to note that Washington Water District and the city of Nevada City have both proclaimed local emergencies,” Griesbach said. “An additional 18 California counties and several cities have also proclaimed storm events throughout the state.”
Griesbach stated that ratifying the local emergency proclamation allows the county to be more effective in responding to winter storm impacts, and could result in more state and financial aid for damaged areas.
“Due to these events, I signed a local emergency proclamation (Monday) proclaiming the existence of a local emergency due to the 2022-23 winter storms,” Griesbach said. “The governor declared a state of emergency due to the storm events on January 4, and the president declared a federal emergency due to these events on January 8.”
District 4 Supervisor Sue Hoek said, “I think we have all seen what’s been going on and I just want to give a shout-out to the crews who are out there working in the midst of all this. It’s been fairly crazy out there. “
Hoek moved for the board to motion to adopt the resolution, where it was agreed upon unanimously by all supervisors.
To contact Staff Writer Jennifer Nobles email jnobles@theunion.com, or call 530-477-4232.
