Lodi declares state of emergency

Jan. 6—Due to the extreme weather experienced last weekend caused by atmospheric rivers, the City of Lodi declared a state of emergency Wednesday night, which will remain in effect for at least 10 days.

The Lodi City Council during its Wednesday night meeting unanimously approved a resolution declaring the emergency.

The council could re-ratify the declaration in 30 days, if needed.

"It's been quite the event, and we're anticipating another rough couple of days," Deputy City Manager Andrew Keys said Wednesday night. "It looks like over the next few weeks coming in adding to that."

Keys said that severe winter storms related to a series of atmospheric river systems struck the city just after midnight on Dec. 31.

The storms created havoc that brought wind and rain, and the city decided at 10 a.m. that morning to open its emergency operations center to begin responding to the incident.

Some 76 trees fell throughout Lodi parks, including 20 inside the Lodi Lake water area and nature trail, he said, adding there were many more fallen trees that staff had not yet inventoried as of Wednesday.

In addition, 11 city parks suffered damage to fences, and private properties throughout Lodi were damaged as well.

Keys said Lodi Electric Utility crews were held over so much that the city had to hire outside contractors to help restore power due to the outages experienced during the storm.

As of Wednesday night, Keys said damage from the storm was estimated at about $250,000, and is expected to increase as more systems move into the region.

Damage included fallen power poles and lines, costs associated with removal of downed trees, and the cost to replace fence and other city infrastructure.

The continuing storms are expected to bring heavy rainfall, strong winds and gusts of as much as 55 miles per hour, and the city anticipates further tree damage, power outages, and the possibility of localized flooding through the remainder of the week, staff said.

Councilman Shak Khan thanked the city's first responders and management staff for handling the large amount of calls for service that were fielded during the storm.

"They went out there and took care of a lot of stuff," he said, "I think they did a good job, and they'll continue to do a good job."

The city reported earlier this week that the Lodi Fire Department received 60 calls for service, which was three times the average amount of calls it receives in a 24-hour shift. Of those calls, 38 were received within a four-hour period.

Calls for service included several homes hit by fallen trees, one of which resulted in a fire.

Several of the downed trees struck power lines, and numerous power poles were blown down by the high winds, which caused multiple power outages throughout the city.

At one point, some 6,000 Lodi customers were reportedly without power.

The Lodi Police Department also responded to a high volume of calls, specifically traffic accidents caused by slick roads and heavy rain. Heavy call volume appeared to have decreased by 2:30 a.m. Sunday, the city said.

Councilman Alan Nakanishi said he received multiple calls and emails from constituents regarding flooding, and went out into his district to respond to their concerns.

One woman reported her car stalling in the driveway, and was afraid of being stuck in a flood with her two grandchildren, he said.

Another resident questioned how flooding could have happened in an area of town where homes were quite expensive, and other asked if flood insurance would cover any damage caused, he added.

"In my observation, there was flooding in different places (of the city)," he said. "The question is, what can we do about it? Last year, we told (residents) that we had historic rain at that point. Now we have another (instance of historic rain). I think people are looking for answers."

Public works director Charles Swimley said the city's infrastructure wasn't designed to accommodate the significant amount of rain it experienced in October 2021 over a short period if time.

However, that storm prepared his staff for the weather systems that hit California over the weekend, he said, noting an auxiliary water pump was installed at Shady Acres, and two additional pumps were installed at the water pump station located and Blakely and DeBenedetti parks.

"We were ahead of the game this time because of the experience from last year," he said. "(The Shady Acres pump) helped minimize the amount of street flooding on Mills Avenue. (The two pumps at Blakely and DeBenedetti) will help augment these heavy rainfalls that tend to be more aggressive than what's being forecasted."

The city's emergency declaration comes after San Joaquin County and the cities of Stockton, Tracy, Manteca and Lathrop all opened their own emergency operation centers over the weekend, and just hours after the State of California issued its own state of emergency, Keys said.

On Thursday morning, the city said there were no power outages due to the storm the previous night.

Lodi Electric crews proactively cleared trees on Wednesday, the city said, as well as reinforced and rebuilt parts of the electrical system, brought in additional field crew resources and placed all staff on standby.

The fire and police departments did not report any weather-related emergencies throughout the night, and public works did not have any weather related issues after 9 p.m.

Crews removed an unstable tree in the Lakewood area that posed a threat to the power lines, and Lodi parks will remain closed to the public due to current and potential hazardous conditions while trees and other debris are cleaned up, the city said.

According to AccuWeather.com, a private forecasting service, no rain was anticipated for Jan. 6. However, rain is expected to return Saturday and last through Jan. 14.

The following week should see just a few alternating days of rainfall, according to the service.