Fresno County prepares for more wet weather, river access restricted amid storm

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno County residents should be prepared for storm damage, even if they're not under an evacuation warning.

Trees toppled and flooding is also a concern.

Tuesday, Fresno county leaders urged people to stay away from rising rivers.

"It was pretty wild. I was not expecting to come home to that at all," Bo Carrillo said as he described coming home for lunch break and having to evacuate his apartment shortly thereafter.

A large tree uprooted and fell on his apartment.

His cousin and her newborn, as well as two other children were inside.

"Got up, got the kids out of the shower, told everybody they need to get their stuff and we need to get out," Carrillo said.

As one tree toppled onto two apartments, another landed on top of two cars.

Five adults and five kids were displaced, but, thankfully, no one was injured.

Uprooted trees are a concern for officials. They say the ground is so saturated that just a little bit of wind can take a seemingly healthy tree and just knock it over.

As another storm moves through, it's bringing snow to portions of our mountains and rain to lower elevations.

Fresno County officials held a meeting Tuesday afternoon to discuss the ongoing dangers.

"What could be a trickling stream today could be rushing in just a couple of hours," said Terri Mejorado, the director of Fresno County Office of Emergency Services.

Sheriff John Zanoni announced no recreational activity will be allowed along the Kings River from Pine Flat Dam to the Tulare and Kings County lines until further notice.

The same goes for the San Joaquin river from Millerton Dam to the Merced County line.

Anyone who accesses the river could face a fine.

"We don't want to have to deploy resources out there to rescue someone who has put themselves in a bad situation by their own account." Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni said.

Officials are stacking sandbags along the San Joaquin River near Firebaugh to prevent it from spilling over.

They say they'll continue to monitor rivers, flooding and any damage around the clock.

"We're in this for the long haul, this is not going to be a short response," Mejorado said.

Preparation is ongoing. The county will be hosting 60 FEMA trailers in Fresno that can be used here or in a neighboring county if a large area or community needs to be evacuated.

It has enough food, water and shelter supplies for 20,000 people for three days.

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