How to resolve AdBlock issue? Supervisors, Clearlake City Council to hold meetings on windstorm emergency proclamations
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – This week the Board of Supervisors and the Clearlake City Council will meet to discuss emergency declarations arising from the damaging windstorm that occurred last week.
The storm, which began last Thursday and lasted into the following morning, left a trail of destruction along the Northshore and all the way to Clearlake.
Downed trees and power lines, ripped off roofs and houses damaged by falling trees, power outages and crushed vehicles were among the impacts of the storms.
The Clearlake City Council will meet at 9 a.m. Monday, Nov. 25, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
City Manager Joan Phillipe, acting as the city's Emergency Services director, issued the emergency proclamation for the city on Saturday after consulting with Lake County Fire Protection officials and city Public Works staff.
Her report to the council for Monday's meeting said the declaration must be confirmed by the council within seven days of its issuance.
The proclamation authorizes extraordinary police powers, if necessary, and provides limited immunity for the emergency actions of public employees and governing bodies, Phillipe reported.
It also authorizes the issuance of orders and regulations to protect life and safety, allows special purchasing and contracting directly related to the emergency, may provide property owners documentation for insurance purposes and also sends a proactive message to the community, according to her report.
She said the financial impacts won't be known until a citywide damage evaluation is completed.
The review of the proclamation will be held at the council's regular meeting on Thursday, Dec. 12.
The Board of Supervisors meeting will take place beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26, in the board chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
At 9:05 a.m. there will be public comment, followed at 9:06 a.m. by consideration of a proposed resolution confirming the director of Emergency Services' declaration of the existence of a local emergency due to the windstorm that began last Thursday and continued through the following day.
County Administrative Officer Matt Perry, whose duties also include Lake County Emergency Services director, made the declaration on Friday, as Lake County News has reported.
The board is to consider a second proposed resolution proclaiming a local emergency in Lake County due to the windstorm, and will discuss what other actions to take to address the storm's effects.
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112513 Clearlake City Council - Emergency Proclamation
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City of Clearlake declares local emergency due to windstorm
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – As a result of damage sustained throughout the city of Clearlake due to the windstorm hitting the region Thursday and Friday, the city has declared an emergency.
That declaration, made by City Manager Joan Phillipe as the city’s director of emergency services, will be ratified by the Clearlake City Council at a special meeting on Monday, Nov. 25.
That action follows the county's Friday emergency declaration, which will be confirmed at a special Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 26.
Property owners throughout the city have experienced tremendous amounts of green waste and debris in their yards due to fallen trees, officials said.
The city is making available to city of Clearlake residents a designated area at the city’s corporation yard to drop off green waste only. There will be no charge for this service.
Only tree and brush debris will be accepted and only in the designated area. Dumping of garbage, tires, scrap metal, hazardous materials or other waste will result in the city having to discontinue the service.
This service will remain in effect through Jan. 15, 2014.
The corporation yard is located on Airport Road off of Old Highway 53. Questions about this service can be directed to Public Works Director Doug Herren at 707-994-8201, Extension 102.
The city would like to remind property owners before hiring tree removal or cleanup service providers to protect themselves by making sure that any contractor hired is licensed and bonded, and possesses a city business license.
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County continues to clean up in aftermath of major windstorm
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – County residents impacted by the windstorm that hit Thursday night and Friday morning spent Friday cleaning up, making repairs and, in some cases, waiting for their electricity to be restored.
The fierce overnight storm left firefighters and road crews struggling to keep up with the 911 calls reporting lines and trees down, damaged homes and power outages that flooded Central Dispatch.
In the aftermath of the storm, emergency personnel continued to move from call to call on Friday, with the county warning local schools and Lake Transit that delays due to roadway conditions were likely, according to Jill Ruzicka, public information officer for the county of Lake.
With the power still out in much of Upper Lake, Ruzicka said Upper Lake schools were closed on Friday.
“It's the Northshore and Clearlake that took the worst of the hit,” Ruzicka said.
Northshore Fire Protection District Deputy Chief Pat Brown said that on the Northshore, the Nice area appeared to have the most damage.
“We had a lot of torn off roofs,” with a fire district storage building being among them, he said.
The biggest issue, said Brown, was the power outage, which on Friday was continuing to impact several thousand county residents.
“People are not really set up for the power being off,” he said, with issues arising for people needing to have medications refrigerated and oxygen supplies.
County, fire and law enforcement officials, along with Pacific Gas and Electric, held meetings on Friday to try to assess the damage, but Ruzicka said in many cases emergency personnel weren't able to offer damage estimates because they were still involved in the process of responding to incidents.
A key action taken on Friday was County Administrative Officer Matt Perry's declaration of a local emergency in response to the storm, with the Board of Supervisors calling a special meeting for next Tuesday, Nov. 26, to confirm the action.
Ruzicka said PG&E dedicated an incident command team to Lake County, with a goal of having power restored to all residents by the middle of the day Saturday.
Crews made their way around the county on Friday, working to restore power to thousands of residents whose electricity had gone out on Thursday, and also picking up fallen power lines, a major safety concern for county officials.
Brown said there were so many cases of downed lines that they had to simply put up tape and cones to cordon them off, with firefighters unable to wait until power crews arrived. “We had to keep on moving.”
Removing those lines was crucial to ensuring the safety of road crews, who Ruzicka said were standing by to continue cleanup.
Residents around the county – particularly the hard-hit Clearlake and Nice areas – reported differing kinds of damage, including lack of power and phone services, trees on houses and vehicles, destroyed fences, carports lifted off their footings, broken windows, peeled off roofs, stray animals in the street, and debris around homes and in the streets.
One resident described the Nice area as looking like a “war zone.”
In the Lakeside Heights subdivision in north Lakeport, which earlier this year was impacted by a landslide, about five acres of plastic tarping put down on the slide area by a county-hired contractor last month – and effort meant to protect the soil from rain – was pulled up and shredded by the winds. As a result, large areas of the soil once again are exposed to future rain, according to homeowners association President Randall Fitzgerald.
In addition to damage to homes and businesses, there were reports of falling trees damaging some buildings at county parks, and the county-owned Holiday Harbor marina in Nice sustained serious damage, with the storm breaking docks and crumpling boat slip covers.
The Kelseyville, Middletown and Cobb areas appeared to have sustained no major damage, according to residents, although there were power outages reported by PG&E in those areas.
The city of Lakeport also sustained relatively little damage, with Councilman Martin Scheel noting that the city looked as if there had been hardly any wind.
Lake County Fire Protection District firefighters continued to respond to reports of downed trees and damaged lines through the day on Friday, as Clearlake residents dealt with damage to homes and neighborhoods.
Similarly, Northshore Fire Protection District dealt with a very high call volume, according to Brown.
In 24 hours, the agency responded to 100 calls, one of the highest call quotas the district has had, Brown said.
“It just hasn't stopped,” he said Friday evening.
He said all personnel were called in, with volunteers putting in a lot of time.
On Friday they had the additional challenge of dealing with several small wildland fires, including one at Bruner Drive at the Kono Tayee subdivision near Lucerne, a fire near Paradise Cove and a smaller fire in the Clover Valley area.
The combination of the power outages and so much wind created a situation unlike any that Brown has seen in recent years with the agency.
The National Weather Service's wind advisory for Lake County is due to expire at 4 a.m. Saturday.
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Local emergency declared due to windstorm damage; supervisors to hold special Nov. 26 meeting
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Board of Supervisors will convene a special meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 26, to confirm the existence of a local emergency for Lake County due to the severe wind event that occurred on Thursday and Friday.
The meeting will convene at 9 a.m. in the board chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St. in Lakeport.
They were not originally scheduled to meet on Nov. 26 due to the holidays.
On Friday afternoon, County Administrative Officer Matt Perry, acting as director of Lake County Office of Emergency Services, proclaimed the existence of a local emergency in Lake County.
This proclamation will allow county departments to expedite the procurement process to purchase supplies and hire outside contractors to help address the county’s responsibilities in the recovery process from the devastating high winds.
“We are all shocked by the amount of damage this wind storm did to the county, particularly in the North Shore area,” said District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing. “We’ve got a lot of people working hard to ensure the safety of our citizens and get things back to normal.”
Numerous county department heads and their staff have been working nonstop since Thursday afternoon to keep basic services up and running for county residents.
First responders have been controlling numerous fires throughout the county caused by downed power lines.
PG&E has an incident command team dedicated to Lake County, and they hope to have power restored to Lake County by midday Saturday, Nov. 23.
It appears that Upper Lake, Nice, and Lucerne are the hardest hit areas of the county, officials reported.
Residents are reminded that it is best practice to hire licensed contractors for their repair work. Information on cleanup will be provided soon.
County officials are working out the most expedient and efficient way to facilitate the clean up process, and guide residents to best practices.
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Clearlake City Council plans special meeting to receive Lakeshore Drive building moratorium report
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – In a special meeting planned for Thursday evening, the Clearlake City Council will receive a report on a temporary moratorium that prevents construction projects and major remodels on a portion of Lakeshore Drive.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
The single item on the agenda is a report on the urgency ordinance regarding remodels and construction on Lakeshore Drive between Old Highway 53 and Olympic Drive.
The city implemented the moratorium this summer in order to gain time to work on design standards on the Lakeshore Drive corridor, as Lake County News has reported.
The council is expected to receive and issue the report, a copy of which was not available Wednesday night.
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