About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 2020)
LOCA^OP STORIES The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Midweek Edition-October 28-29, 2020 3A Hall prepares for Tropical Utility: Winds too weak to cut power before Calif, fire Storm Zeta BY BRIAN MELLEY AND STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press BY KELSEY PODO kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com Tropical Storm Zeta is expected to bring heavy rainfall to Hall County Wednesday night and into early Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Kyle Thiem, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Peachtree City office, said around 2-3 inches of rain is forecasted with the potential for flash flooding. Earlier this October, several roads in Hall experienced damage from rain associated with Hurricane Delta, including Mud Creek Road at Mud Creek and Persimmon Tree Road near Ga. Highway 52. Portions of five roads — Bald Eagle Trail, B Clark Road, Hensley Road, Forrester Road and Webb Girth Road — are still closed for repairs. Casey Ramsey, director of the Hall County Emergency Management Agency, told The Times in a previous article that around 30 homes in Hall were damaged by the Oct. 10-11 storm, most of those occurring in the McConnell Drive area of Gainesville. Ramsey said although the forecasted rainfall is lower than last time — which reached 8-10 inches in some areas of Hall — his team is preparing for flash flooding and strong winds. “We’re going to be experiencing a lot higher wind val ues than last time,” Ramsey said. “Some of the forecasted wind gusts are 40-45 miles per hour. That’s concerning for us, especially if we have a lot of rainfall.” Ramsey said road maintenance staff have already visited the mobile home parks around McConnell Drive and Highland Terrace — which were flooded during the storm earlier this month — to help prepare them for another wave of rainfall. “We’re checking things to make sure the water is flow ing properly and doing routine preventative mainte nance,” Ramsey said. While the county’s emergency management agency keeps a close eye on the coming storm, Ramsey encour ages Hall residents to sign up for flash flooding warnings at alerts.hallcounty.org and always remember to “turn around don’t drown.” “Don’t go through standing or moving water,” he said. “Obey all barricades and traffic directions. Don’t go around barriers.” JAE C. HONG I Associated Press A firefighter prepares to put out hotspots while battling the Silverado Fire, Monday, Oct. 26, in Irvine, Calif. LOS ANGELES - Facing extreme wildfire conditions this week that included hur ricane-level winds, the main utility in Northern California cut power to nearly 1 million people while its counterpart in Southern California pulled the plug on just 30 customers to prevent power lines and other electrical equipment from sparking a blaze. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. avoided major wildfires dur ing its outage, while Southern California Edison is trying to determine if one of its power lines started a massive fire that drove nearly 100,000 people from their homes in Orange County during fierce winds and extremely dry conditions early Monday. “I don’t know why they did not shut power off,” said attorney Gerald Singleton, who has sued utilities for devastating wildfires caused by their equipment. “They seem to be still be operating as if climate change and all these things we’re dealing with are not a reality.” The utility defended its decision not to institute a type of blackout used increasingly as a means of protecting residents after several devastating wildfires, including a 2018 inferno sparked by PG&E equipment that nearly razed the community of Para dise, killed 85 people and destroyed 19,000 homes and other buildings. Edison spokesman Chris Abel said wind speeds in the mountains above the city of Irvine at the time had not reached the threshold to pull the plug on the power, though they did later in the morning when some electric circuits were cut. “It’s not something that we take lightly,” Abel said of the decision to shut off electric ity. “We know that not hav ing power is a tremendous burden on our customers.” The Silverado Fire broke out in gusty weather just before 7 a.m. Monday near Irvine, a city of 280,000 about 35 miles south of Los Angeles. According to SoCal Edison’s report to state util ity regulators, a “lashing wire” that ties a telecommu nications line to a support ing cable may have come into contact with a separate 12,000-volt Edison conductor line above. That blaze and the Blue Ridge Fire farther north in the county, which broke out several hours later in the brushy hills of Yorba Linda, kept more than 70,000 people from their homes Tuesday as winds returned, but not as strongly as the day before when they blew over tractor- trailers and grounded fire fighting aircraft. Two firefighters who battled the Silverado Fire remained in critical con dition after suffering sec ond- and third-degree burns over large portions of their bodies, Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fen- nessey said. “It’s tough for any fire fighter, certainly any fire chief..., to feel this helpless when you’ve got part of our fire family fighting for their lives,” Fennessey said at a Tuesday news conference. At least 10 homes were damaged and thousands of homes remained threatened as flames moved toward neighborhoods. There was little containment of the fires, though weather condi tions were improving. The fires moved with extraordinary speed and residents described the fear they felt when told to evacu ate and then having to navi gate through orange-tinted smoke on traffic-choked roads. In Northern California, two dozen wildfires reported since Sunday were rapidly contained without serious damage. Easing winds allowed PG&E to begin restoring power after the largest of five safety shutoffs this year. At its peak, PG&E cut power to about 345,000 customers — nearly 1 million people — in 34 counties. Report: Men yelled racial slurs at UNG student in Dahlonega SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Crews continue to repair a washed out B Clark Road Monday, Oct. 26, after recent storms washed away a portion of the road. Two men driving Sunday, Oct. 25, near the University of North Georgia Dahlonega campus drill field yelled racial comments at a stu dent, according to a UNG Police notice obtained by The Times. The notice said two female students reported they were walking between Secure your savings. 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The men were in a sil ver SUV with a square shaped rear window and a “Trump” sticker, according to the notice. The men have light brown or brown hair, according to the notice. No other information was provided. The Times has reached out to university officials to get more information on the case. Anyone with informa tion on the incident should call UNG Police central dispatch at 706-864-1500 or email publicsafety@ung. edu. Nick Watson YOU HAVE A Will advocate for fully funding K-12 schools Will take a stand against hate Will fight to get Georgians the Health Care they need and deserve Will listen to and have conversations with our community In 2020 voted for a Budget that cut almost $1 billion from our schools Voted no on the Hate Crimes Bill, refusing to stand against systemic oppression Voted to reject $3 Billion federal tax dollars per year, leaving 1/2 Million Georgians without health insurance Has been your representative since 2011. Has he ever reached out to you? ROAD CLOSED ( A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR HALL CO. “As a constituent of the incumbent, I have been continually disappointed, not only with his voting record, but with his lack of listening to the hard-working families in southern Hall County. I am running to provide our community with a representative who fights for our familie ” LeigA - GPLEIGHF0RGE0RGIA - o © o LEIGHFORGEORGIA.COM
