Tuesday April 25, 2023
CapRadio —
When rain storms pummel Sacramento, a city surrounded by levees, crews work all hours of the night to prevent flooding.
They monitor, control and maintain the city’s more than 100 stormwater lift stations, which residents depend on to pump water into creeks, canals, or the Sacramento or American Rivers.
These stations failing would cause water to burst out of the city’s gutters, drain inlets and manholes, said supervising plant operator Philip Myer.
“If our stations don’t have power, pumps don’t come on,” he said. “We flood. That’s all there is to it, you know.”
During power outages in windy downpours, the city sends electricians to hook up generators to pumping stations. Other crews clear fallen trees that clog up drainage systems. Rain doesn’t drain out of Sacramento naturally or for free.