Spring rain hits Central California, causes trees and power lines to fall

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Windshield wipers were hard at work on Saturday afternoon as the rain came down. But so were Fresno City crews.

Crews were chopping down this tree that fell into some powerlines on Eighth and Lyell Street in Southeast Fresno.

The branches were also leaning on top of the home's roof.

"We haven't seen a ton of outages, but we have seen some," PG&E spokesperson Jeff Smith said. "We've seen downed wires, we've seen some downed powerlines, and that's a result of some the pretty significant winds we saw earlier in the afternoon."

PG&E says most of the outages from Saturday's soaker were within the city of Fresno.

During active weather like this, PG&E says it keeps an especially close eye on the rural areas.

"Particularly in those mountain areas, like I mentioned, are access issues," Smith said. "If you've got trees or shrubbery or things like that that are impeding our crews' ability to access those areas, that's always a concern."

Smith says the recent sunshine gave crews a chance to rest and prep their equipment for the rain and wind.

Clovis resident Brad Ringness was cutting up this tree that fell into the middle of the sidewalk right next to the Handy Stop store.

"I figured that this was a true emergency, I didn't want anybody to get hurt. i had a saw and figured why not cut it up," Rigness said.

Ringness walks around this neighborhood often and when he saw the fallen tree, he jumped right into action.

"I knew I could do it fast, so I just decided not to leave it to somebody else," Rigness said. "I think we all need to take more action and help out in situations like this."

The rain also impacting many weekend events.

The Fresno Grizzlies game set for Saturday evening had to be canceled due to the rain.

"It's very disappointing when you lose any game, especially a Saturday night and especially this Saturday night where we had a lot of pre-sold tickets and a lot of folks coming out, little leagues and a lot of big groups.," Franks said

The Grizzlies say Saturday's game is going to be made up Sunday as part of a doubleheader.

If fans can't make it out, they can also exchange their tickets for any other game during the 2024 season.

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