Winter storms create flooding hazards, dangerous driving conditions in Valley

The Clovis Police Department says it's seen 14 weather-related crashes since the start of the storm.

Friday, January 29, 2021
Winter storms create flooding hazards, dangerous driving conditions in Valley
The relentless rain has posed threats of flooding for some areas and has resulted in spin-outs and crashes across Fresno County.

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Continuous rain in Fresno County has left highways slick and some roadways flooded.

A crash involving a Greyhound bus and several vehicles brought southbound Highway 99 near Jensen to a slowdown.

"People are driving way too fast, not giving themselves enough time to stop or react to whatever it is they are faced with and ultimately we are responding to a lot of calls of traffic collisions out there," said Mike Salas with the California Highway Patrol.

The California Highway Patrol warned drivers of areas of flooding in Fresno County, like a portion of Clovis Avenue near Fowler.

Meanwhile, in Mendota, local crews with county support worked to prevent water and mud, which flowed down from the mountains, from entering the city.

"The flow of it, the flow of it was really fast, it came down quick. It's something that they haven't seen in over 30 years, some of the farmers told me," said Mendota Mayor Rolando Castro.

In Clovis, a parking lot at Willow and Nees was flooded several inches deep.

The Clovis Police Department says it's seen 14 weather-related crashes since the start of the storm.

"Those puddles and those flooded streets will sneak up on you really quick so that's been our biggest issue - the accidents," said Clovis Police Lt. Jim Munro.

The storm impacted electrical lines in Fresno County too.

About 1,500 homes lost power Thursday night - outages that PG&E attributed to weather.

One neighborhood in Clovis near Shepherd Avenue was completely dark with lights out in about 300 homes.