Waterlogged fields and roads. Split trees and shoulders piled with branches. Shredded shingles strewn across the sidewalks like confetti. In Sacramento, these are a few of the lasting reminders of the storms that roiled the region over the past three weeks. As 2023 began, Northern California found itself in the pathway of a series of atmospheric rivers, fast-moving ribbons of water vapor infused with moisture from the tropics. According to the FOX Forecast Center, these plumes have dropped 32 trillion gallons of water on California since Dec. 24.
While the storms have abated for now, the property damage they caused will remain far after the sun returns. Preliminary estimates from Sacramento County’s Office of Emergency Services suggest that the storms caused over $123 million worth of damage in the county alone. Other experts estimate that the total bill may be $1 billion or more across California.
Photographer Nick Shockey documented some of the damage around Sacramento, including to homes and businesses in the city’s Capitol Mansions, Land Park, East Sacramento and Colonial Heights neighborhoods. How did your home or business fare in the storms? Please share your stories in the comments below.
— Jennifer Fergesen
A historic Capitol Mansions house was devastated by the storm.
Service trucks park in Land Park as tree clearing crews prepare
to clean up after the storm.
A downed tree blocks the street at the corner of H Street and
Carlson Drive in Sacramento.
An East Sacramento residence lays tarped after heavy rains and
winds.
Two uprooted trees collapsed on adjacent homes in the Capitol
Mansions district.
A collapsed tree crushes a parked car on J Street in Midtown.
Crews prepare to clear an uprooted tree on 36th and H streets.
A snapped telephone pole blocks the street at the corner of 23rd
and L.
A fallen tree in Crocker Park near downtown.
A root ball is all that remains in the front yard of an East
Sacramento house.
The devastation to this Colonial Heights home was a common scene
after the onslaught of the recent storms.
–
Stay up to date on business in the Capital Region: Subscribe to the Comstock’s newsletter today.
Recommended For You
Storm Chasers
Real-time weather forecasting is helping to balance the need to store more water while still preventing floods
In the face of climate change, environmental stress and population growth, advanced technology can lead to enhanced weather forecasting, which could make a huge impact in preventing floods and keeping reservoirs full.
Drought Is Here. Our Trees Will Need Extra Care
Experts from the Regional Water Authority and the Sacramento Tree Foundation share tree care tips
Whether you are a homeowner, a renter or business owner, adopt
these five basic practices to protect our wonderful urban trees
from drought this year.
Infrastructure Issues Demand Attention
Infrastructure — roads, bridges and dams — is the backbone of any economy. Business can’t function without it. The Association of Civil Engineers estimates that nationally, defective or failing infrastructure will cost the average family $3,400 a year over the next decade.
Storm Shelter
Architects and engineers find ways to build around a rough market
The design-build industry has been absolutely battered by the spoiled economy. Architecture and design firms lament layoffs, nonexistent financing and an utter lack of optimism for 2010. Yet a number of large regional projects are keeping local firms afloat and offering a silver, albeit temporary, lining.
Are We Doomed by Climate Change?
Fast-thinking innovation is needed to prevent ‘wetter wets, drier dries, hotter hots’ from threatening the state’s crops, species and economy
Mediterranean climates, like California’s, typically follow boom and bust cycles, marked by a predictable shift between cold and wet and hot and dry. But the changing climate will amplify that pattern with weather that is, at times, wetter and at other times hotter.
The Lasting Agreement
California’s long legacy of trying to solve its water problem
No one owns water in California, making collaboration and
negotiation between water management players crucial.