12 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY march 16-22, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com Four days after high winds on March 9 took out power for 37,000 residents in the Monterey area, PG&E crews were busy in Carmel with a backhoe and other equipment replacing two poles that had snapped after a large Monterey pine fell. It was one of approximately 40 trees that tumbled in Carmel and one incident among dozens on the Monterey Peninsula that kept most of the small village in the dark a day after neighboring cities. Some areas were still dark on Monday, March 13, as the next storm arrived. Carmel City Administrator Chip Rerig says he’s grateful for the workers piecing back together the town’s power lines, but he has questions for their employer. “It was odd for us because PG&E was so prepared and organized for the January storm, but they didn’t appear to have anybody staged and prepared for this storm,” Rerig says. “There was adequate warning. Why they weren’t better prepared remains a topic I need to take up with PG&E,” he says. PG&E Senior Public Safety Specialist Stewart Roth says crews were as ready ahead of the March 9 storm as they were in January, but it differed this time with higher gusting winds and saturated ground. “This was a totally different event,” Roth says. In addition, Roth says safety regulations require PG&E to pull crews out if winds are over 30mph. Another source of delay is workers having to make safe areas for police and fire by de-energizing downed lines. In January, crews were able to start repairs faster. Regardless of those issues, Pacific Grove City Manager Ben Harvey says he wants to have a conversation with PG&E officials about a future investment in beefing up local infrastructure, especially in light of recurring extreme weather. “We all need to face the reality of these stormy, rainy winters,” Harvey says. “It’s causing us to think, what sort of redundancy do we need to come up with?” In Monterey, where city officials counted 32 downed trees causing 12 street closures—including on Del Monte Avenue, where two transmission lines carrying power to a large area of Monterey County came down—and 136 calls to the Monterey Fire Department over a 24-hour period, City Manager Hans Uslar is talking more seriously about undergrounding power lines. It’s a lengthy and expensive proposition but Uslar is ready to consider it. “The community has to get its ducks in a row and decide, how do we finance that?” Uslar says. When the Pajaro River levee breached shortly after midnight March 11, floodwaters made their way south down Salinas Road, and later that Saturday morning, reached the Elkhorn Slough, a national estuarine research reserve. On their way, the waters inundated Tri-County Landscape Supply, and just before 3pm on Sunday, March 12, Elkhorn resident Rebecca Dmytryk filed a hazardous materials spill report with the state Office of Emergency Services, stating there was a sheen of “unknown black petroleum product” about 200-by-45 feet in size that appeared to be coming from a shed at Tri-County. Tri-County manager Juan Ramirez confirms it was the source—a tank holding 60 gallons of waste oil, which is “all gone,” he says. He adds everything was up to code, but it got submerged by the flood. Dmytryk, along with her husband Duane Titus, runs nonprofit Wildlife Emergency Services, a wild animal rescue company. Titus says they’ve done a number of rescues over the years for animals impacted by oil spills, and he says that for birds, even a dime-size blot of oil on their plume can be a death sentence. Oil latches onto vegetation, he says, so he’s unsure if any of the oil reached the slough. Mark Silberstein, executive director of nonprofit Elkhorn Slough Foundation, says this is a reprisal of the Pajaro floods of 1995, when floodwaters reached the slough on the same path. Some of the sediment the waters then deposited in the slough contained DDT—a pesticide banned in 1972 due to its toxicity and thinning of bird eggshells—and they decimated a fledgling colony of Caspian terns, which Silberstein says have not returned. He says ESF scientists will be watching in the coming months for broken egg shells and deformed embryos—signs of DDT poisoning. Dave Feliz, the reserve manager, says scientists will be closely monitoring any new sediment deposited from the flood. “Even decades after [DDT] was used, it persists in the soils,” he says. In the Dark Cities left without power start looking for ways to prevent future outages. By Pam Marino news House of Cards The Del Rey Oaks City Council and Planning Commission host a public workshop on the city’s latest Housing Element update. The multiyear housing plan identifies available land, keeps track of new policies and attempts to meet housing needs for multiple economic backgrounds in the area. Come in person to comment, or watch via Zoom. 6pm Thursday, March 16. Charlie Benson Memorial Hall, 650 Canyon Del Rey Blvd., Del Rey Oaks. Free. 3948511, kminami@delreyoaks.org, bit.ly/ DelReyOaksHousingElementUpdate. Lunch of the Irish Enjoy a traditional Irish meal with Marina Recreation & Cultural Services as they celebrate Irish heritage this month. Come hear music, eat and honor the culture. 11am Saturday, March 18. Marina Community Center, 211 Hillcrest Ave., Marina. $2. 884-1253, bit.ly/ MarinaIrishHeritageLunch. Family Matters The public is invited to attend a strategic planning event in order to help Monterey County officials plan for a forthcoming Family Justice Center. The space will be designed to help survivors of family violence and their loved ones get the resources and support they need in one location. Lunch will be provided during the afternoon. 8am-4pm Wednesday, March 22. Salinas Elks Lodge, 614 Airport Blvd., Salinas. Free. RSVP to FamilyJusticeCenterRSVP@co.monterey.ca.us. familyjusticecenter.com. STORM SUPPORT The Community Foundation for Monterey County has created a storm relief fund. Anyone is invited to donate any amount, and nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply for funds to support local storm-related response and recovery. As of March 1, more than $500,000 has been granted. 375-9712, cfmco.org/stormrelief. You can also mail a check to CFMC, 2354 Garden Road, Monterey, CA 93940 and note “storm relief fund” in the subject. Relief Resources King City is accepting business assistance applications for those who have been financially impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The program provides grants to small and medium-sized businesses within the city limits to offset the negative impacts of the shelter-in-place order. Applications will be accepted until June 15 or until the funds have been expended. King City City Hall, 212 S. Vanderhurst Ave., King City. Free. 386-5929, bit.ly/ KingCityBusinessRelief. Toxin Watch Floodwaters reached the Elkhorn Slough. What chemicals did they carry with them? By David Schmalz PG&E crews were lined up on Dolores Street in northern Carmel on Monday, March 13, repairing two poles that snapped when a tree fell on power lines on March 9. e-mail: publiccitizen@mcweekly.com TOOLBOX “They didn’t appear to have anybody prepared for this storm.” Daniel Dreifuss
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==