Local PG&E crews prepare for damage caused by high wind speeds
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- For PG&E crews, the incoming storm brings concerns of wind speeds.
The trees in the Valley have been weakened by drought.
Workers are worried that branches will break or the wind will pick up debris and slam it into power lines.
Most of the workers are prepared for possible outages that could occur into the night.
They are anticipating the bulk of the damage to come from the North Valley.
"There is potential for this storm to cause tens of thousands of customers to go out, just based on previous models. Some of those outages may be very short term. But we encourage areas prone to longer outages such as the mountains to be ready," said Denny Boyles.
Families have been taking advantage of free sandbags.
Many of them say their backyards, patios, even homes came close to flooding during a similar sied storm last year so they don't want to take any chances.
"It all came into the patio area, and we were out there with towels and brooms and whatever we could think of...it was just a mess and i don't want to do that again," said neighbor Zandra Steinhardt.
Families living on the Valley floor say they are preparing themselves too. We've seen several families make several trips, some filling up a couple dozen bags. This location and all others in the county will remain open 24 hours a day.
For a full list of sandbag locations, click here.
