Amador County – Amador Pines Subdivision reported about 600 homes without power Tuesday, where at least 25 power lines were down, while one utility crew worked to make repairs.

Jack Magee, a member of the Amador Pines Homeowners Association board, said “its going to take a couple of weeks or more crews” to get power restored at Amador Pines.

PG&E crews are scattered all over the Sierras, and one PG&E crew is working in Amador Pines, where Magee said about 25 power lines are on the ground.

PG&E’s hotline and local crews, and CDF working at the bottom of East Inspiration Drive, all were surprised to learn there were more than one line down at Amador Pines. Magee directed CDF to five more on a street they were working at.

He said: “It’s amazing how strong these wires are.” The “snow seems to be so wet that it’s hanging in the trees, and the trees are just collapsing under the weight.” His wife was nearly hit by a 15-inch diameter tree that fell in the back yard and “missed her by an inch,” when she was getting firewood.

Some of the trees are heavy enough to take the power lines all the way to the ground, some are just hanging there, and some are big enough to snap the poles. He said they have lost four or five power poles along Amador Pines’ 26 miles of roads. The area has about 600 homes, and all of them are out of power.

Magee is a volunteer snow plow operator for Amador Pines Homeowners Association, and is Maintenance Chairman and Snow Plow Chairman. He said: “I’ve got 5 snow plows running pretty much around the clock.”

His power has been out for 3 days, but like many in the subdivision, he has a gasoline generator.

Some have propane generators, like his neighbor, who ran out of fuel and was leaving to stay in a hotel Tuesday, as another storm was expected.

Kamps Propane may deliver and “roads are clear, so they could get in here, but if there is a wire in the middle of the road, that’s all the farther they are going to go.”

He told his plowing crew that when they “see a wire on the road, back up and go another direction.” If the plow runs over the wire, there is a chance it could pick up the wire, and pull down a pole, he said. “And on electricity wires, you don’t assume that they are dead.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.