Windy storm causes scattered outages in Modesto area. What’s ahead for this week?

John Holland
·2 min read

A windy storm brought scattered power outages Monday to Stanislaus County, which can expect more rain into Thursday.

“We’re thankful for rain today, but could do without the wind,” the Modesto Irrigation District posted on Facebook for its electricity customers. “... Our crews stand ready to respond and work as quickly as possible to safely restore power to any affected areas.”

The Turlock Irrigation District still had an outage for 255 customers in Patterson as of late afternoon. It was on a few streets east of Baldwin Avenue and could last until 11 p.m., the TID website said.

Earlier outages included one involving power lines that fell onto Geer Road at Minnesota Avenue in Turlock. Both directions of Geer were closed to traffic in the morning.

Road flooding caused slowdowns around Modesto, Calif., on Monday, Dec. 13, 2021.
Road flooding caused slowdowns around Modesto, Calif., on Monday, Dec. 13, 2021.

TID reported several other power failures around the city and another in the River View area in Hickman.

MID recorded 0.44 inches from Monday’s storm as of 3 p.m. Rainfall Sunday brought 0.54 inches on top of the 0.18 inches last week.

The National Weather Service forecast a 90% chance of rain through Monday evening, with up to 0.75 inches added to the late-morning total. The wind will be around 25 mph but could gust to 38.

Another quarter-inch could fall Tuesday, with the wind easing to 11 mph. Tuesday night looks to be mostly cloudy, followed by a 30% chance of rain Wednesday. The chances are 90% Wednesday night and 70% Thursday. Friday and the weekend are forecast to be dry.

This is the second series of big storms to hit the state this autumn, the start of what is hopefully not a third straight year of drought.

The snowpack in the central Sierra Nevada was 38% of average for Dec. 13, up from 15% a week ago, the California Department of Water Resources reported.

Two women share an umbrella on 10th Street in Modesto, Calif., on Monday, Dec. 13, 2021.
Two women share an umbrella on 10th Street in Modesto, Calif., on Monday, Dec. 13, 2021.
Coffee Road is clogged after a traffic accident in Modesto, Calif., on Monday, Dec. 13, 2021.
Coffee Road is clogged after a traffic accident in Modesto, Calif., on Monday, Dec. 13, 2021.
Monday morning’s rain didn’t interrupt construction work for the new eight-story courthouse that will take up the block bounded by G and H streets and Ninth and 10th streets in downtown Modesto.
Monday morning’s rain didn’t interrupt construction work for the new eight-story courthouse that will take up the block bounded by G and H streets and Ninth and 10th streets in downtown Modesto.