The calm before the storm giving crews in Fresno time to prepare

Wednesday, January 18, 2017
The calm before the storm giving crews in Fresno time to prepare
Dry conditions the last few days have city crews in Fresno taking advantage of the calm weather to prepare for the next series of storms later in the week.

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Dry conditions the last few days have city crews in Fresno taking advantage of the calm weather to prepare for the next series of storms later in the week.

The City of Fresno has over 180 employees working to clear drains along streets and at ponding basins across town. But the biggest task right now is filling potholes.

"Once it has some cracks water gets in and the action of that water plus trucks, especially, driving over it, break it apart creating a pothole," said Scott Mozier, City of Fresno Public Works Director.

Mozier said crews are working to fill as many as they possibly can.

But Mozier has a new concern with the next storm-- windy conditions with the combination of the ground being wet could have some trees tipping over.

"Especially the weaker trees if they were already diseased in some way, especially damaged from the drought in past years, then that's a tree subsume to falling."

There are over 300,000 trees in the City of Fresno and Mozier has three crews dedicated to tree removal.

Crews are also on stand-by for any major flooding like last week in East Central Fresno, but Mozier doesn't expect that to happen again.

"When you have just an incredible amount of rain, just as we did last week in East Central Fresno, in a very short period, the system gets overwhelmed."

Mozier said the system can handle the anticipated rain for the next storm. The city has pumps and ponding basins ready to handle additional rain.

If you experience any issues with potholes, flooding, or down trees you can contact the city through their Fres-Go app or call them at 621-CITY.