By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
DARK & STORMY DAY
Rain & wind topple trees, knock out power, blow over many fences
STORM3-1-21-10
City of Manteca Public Works employee Paul Haford suctions out a clogged storm drain Wednesday as a wild storm swept through Manteca and the rest of the South County. - photo by HIME ROMERO

Several Manteca residents south of the Highway 120 Bypass were in the dark for about four hours at the height of the rainstorm Wednesday.

Power reportedly went out about an hour before the noon hour. Electricity was finally restored just in time for residents to get ready for dinner in the late afternoon.

Around Manteca, several residential homes’ fences were knocked down by the strong wind gusts that accompanied the driving rain all through the night and on through most of the day. The National Weather Service reported wind gusts of up to 30 miles per hour in the afternoon, accompanied by lightning and thunder. A mature tree in front of a home on West Yosemite Avenue was knocked down, along with the property’s chain link fence. The same scenario was repeated in a number of residential homes, some worse off than others.

Wednesday’s precipitation was nearly an inch, according to the report from the National Weather Service. That brought January’s total rain to date at 2.28 inches and the season’s total to 6.05 inches.

Area farmers, especially almond growers, were not immune to one of the worst January rainstorms that hit them these last few days. Many of them reported tree losses as a result of the strong wind gusts, even as some of them were planting new young trees to replace what they lost this time last year during a similar foul weather.

And the worst is not over yet, according to the extended forecast from the weather service. While the weekend promises some sunshine amid cloudy skies, rain showers are expected to continue this morning, slowly tapering off in the afternoon with wind gusts up to 30 mph. Rain showers will return tonight and will likely continue on Friday with the same gusts of wind, according to weather forecasts. But the same forecasts are describing the weekend’s sunny break as the lull before the coming of two more storms next week.