Solano County declares state of emergency after recent storms

Photo: A fallen tree rests on power lines in the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento, California on Sunday, January 8, 2023. Photo by the author.

Officials in Solano County have issued an emergency proclamation based on widespread damage and flooding caused by severe weather over the last several days, and the potential for more damage and flooding from storms that are expected in the near future.

The proclamation was issued on Tuesday and comes several days after Governor Gavin Newsom issued a separate state of emergency and a requet for a similar federal disaster declaration, which was approved by President Biden over the weekend.

The state emergency declaration allows officials in California to receive financial, personnel and other assistance from the federal government. Likewise, a local disaster declaration is the initial step toward Solano County receiving assistance from state and federal agencies and funds to address emergency matters here.

According to the proclamation issued Tuesday, Solano County has seen an increase in localized flooding, downed trees, power pole damage, road closures, mudslides, levee infrastructure damage, loss of electrical power and other issues with critical infrastructure since the start of the severe weather event on December 30, 2022.

County officials were prepared to address an onslaught of high precipitation and damaging winds during a storm that was expected to slam the local area and other parts of Northern California last Wednesday, though the storm ultimately didn’t deliver the punch to Solano County that forecasters thought it would.

The same wasn’t true for other storms that moved through the area later in the week, including a storm early Sunday morning that generated wind gusts of around 70 miles per hour and led to structural damage from downed trees and power lines in Solano, Yolo and Sacramento counties. On Monday, a torrential rainstorm brought over two inches of precipitation and triggered flood concerns in several Vacaville neighborhoods; local officials in Fairfield issued a flood and evacuation warning for several streets in the Green Valley area on Tuesday due to rising water levels at Lake Curry, which spills into Suisun Creek.

More rain is expected throughout the week, though forecasters say they do not expect local rainfall to be as severe as what the area has experienced over the last several days. Still, the storms could include breezy wind that, when coupled with the rain, could lead to complicated driving conditions. Local roads could continue to experience flooding, and other areas could see flood conditions based if creek and reservoir levels continue to increase.

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