There have been “fairly minimal” impacts from the overnight storms in Hollister as it pertains to the city’s public works department and its response, Hollister’s public works chief said Friday morning.
Rain continued overnight Thursday into Friday morning for the Hollister area, with the National Weather Service issuing a flood advisory that expired at 10:30 a.m. The city’s public works department, however, appeared to have the storm response under control with minimal damage.
“At the most I think we have three trees (down),” said Clay Lee, director of the Community Services Department. “And the parks and streets guys just respond to those and chip them up and get rid of them.”
Lee noted that as a precautionary measure, the city did close Park Hill on Thursday night due to high winds. The park has eucalyptus trees that often dump a lot of debris during period of higher winds, he said.
In general, city crews have been out during “normal stuff” for rainy times such as checking storm drains and inlets, or picking up debris.
Lee pointed to drainage improvements done in recent years and attributed much of the smooth response to those efforts.
As for overtime costs, those have been minimal as well, Lee said, with one response to Ladd Lane early Friday morning likely requiring some of it.
“We’re hoping to keep it to a minimum,” he said.
At the water department, Utility Technician Jim Hart said there was one issue, a power failure at a sanitation lift station. Those are machines that pump sewage from one station to another. Other than that, there haven’t been any impacts from the rain, he said.
“Other than the fact that we’re hoping to get more of it,” Hart said.
Look back for more, including rain totals.
