Patterson Irrigator

The West Side’s first big rainfall hit late this week when nearly half an inch fell Thursday night.

By Friday morning, much of Patterson was without power and large bodies of water were forming in parks and along roadways, with rain still falling steadily.

 
Newcastle Park, at American Eagle Avenue and Red Robin Drive, might have been called Newcastle Pond. Rain filled the field basin with about 5 feet of water.

A Turlock Irrigation District employee works to fix a pair of downed power lines at H Street and El Circulo. Photo by Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator

High winds contributed to the blackouts when they tore down power lines at H Street and El Circulo at about 10:15 a.m. A little more than an hour later, another power line toppled at Almond and Sycamore avenues east of Patterson.

Most Patterson residents went without electricity for about 2½ hours, until Turlock Irrigation District workers got the power back at about 12:45 p.m.

“We’ve never been down for this long,” said Save Mart Supermarkets manager Nachie Luna, when the power had been out for about an hour.

Minda Yeager dashes across the Save Mart parking lot Friday morning. Photo by Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator

Before Friday’s power failure, the store had never gone more than about 30 minutes without power, he said.

The store used natural gas generators that allowed it to stay open for light shopping.

Patterson Vegetable Co. employees load up sandbags. Photo by Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator

 

Save Mart wasn’t the only business affected. Along with all the stores neighboring that grocery store, the Villa Del Lago center in West Patterson also lost power, as did most Patterson homes. Downtown was the only area not apparently affected by power failures as of Friday afternoon.

Drivers on I-5 through Patterson deal with limited visibility on the road Friday. Photo by Elias Funez / Patterson Irrigator

Between 8 a.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Friday, 0.5 inches of rain fell, according to records kept by Yancey Lumber Co.

“If I go back out there at noon, there’ll probably be another 0.5 inch,” said Joe Freitas, Yancey manager.
In fact, when he braved the downpour to check at noon, another 0.75 inches had fallen.

“It’s coming down,” Freitas said. “It’s raining good.”

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