PG&E spokesman Denny Boyles said, "We started seeing what we call flashover outages. Dust that's collected on the line over the dry summer get a little water on it, can actually become mud and can short out the line in areas."
PG&E crews will remain in emergency response mode until Friday.
Boyles explained, "There's more weather coming in, wind and rain and so it's likely we'll a new round of outages but we'll be ready."
The storm also cleared many trees of their leaves. As a result many curbs are full of wet leaves. That can pose problems for Fresno street maintenance crews. They were out sweeping up leaves to prevent flooding problems.
Fresno Street Maintenance manager Brian Russell said, "We've got some leaves clogging up storm drains and plastic bags and but crews were able to get out and get it taken care of."
Russell said the city moves crews away from pot hole and paving assignments and focuses on storm response when rain heads our way. If leaves are a problem in your neighborhood you can contact the city. "We rely on the public that when they see a problem out there such as flooding or excessive leaves or those sorts of things to call 621-CITY to report it to get the staff out and get it addressed quickly."
In addition to the rain, the wind also caused outages by knocking branches onto power lines.
