Stay in touch with local officials during emergencies by signing up for alerts at the County and City of Sacramento’s Emergency Preparedness website: http://www.sacramentoready.org/default.htm.  Learn about preparation of emergency kits, evacuation routes and local resources at the region’s one-stop site for emergency readiness.  

A winter storm carrying wind gusts up to 60 mph and heavy rain pounded the Sacramento region Wednesday, cutting power to more than 50,000 people, knocking down dozens of trees and causing minor street flooding. Most of the outages were scattered in small pockets with small numbers of customers per outage. The highest number of outages was 370 at the storm's peak, which occurred between about 9 and 10 a.m., said Chris Capra, spokesperson for Sacramento Municipal Utility District. The storm didn't cause nearly the amount of power outages as the biggest storm in October, when thousands of outages occurred, Capra said. The lack of leaves on trees at this time of year helped; there wasn't a s

"That's the thanks I get?" could be going through this Sacramento City worker's mind when a car sprays him as he tries to unclog a drain at Freeport and 10th in front of The Crepe Escape. In my journeys around Downtown, East Sac and Land Park, it looks like we emerged relatilvely unscathed. A worker prepares to cut a big limb (below) at the corner of N and 23rd this morning, perhaps as preventive maintenance. I caught news blurbs of a tree that fell on a house in Fair Oaks and of a Southwest flight from Sacramento being struck by lightning in southern California.There are scattered power outages in the area, (good for restaurants), and a potential for blizzard conditions in the Sierra. As

Kudos to the City of Sacramento 311 Last night around 8:30 I was frustrated and left to go for a walk. I put on my headset and left my house. As I walked several blocks I passed a bus stop. It was dark and I paid no attention if anyone was seated inside the Regional Transit booth. I heard a faint soft female voice. I turned around but I didn't see anyone. Then I took off my headset and I heard the words, "Ma'am, Ma'am" Slightly irritated, I abruptly said, "What?" I will admit the first thing that came to my mind was to say "No, I don't have any money." But I am glad, so glad I did not accuse the person of wanting money and walk away ignoring her. Seated at the bus stop was a young g