Sounds Of Chainsaws Ring Out In Mother Lode

Photo taken by: Tracey Petersen

Sonora, CA – The sounds of sawing can be heard all over the Mother Lode this morning as the region digs and cuts its way out after an unusual winter storm wreaked havoc on the Mother Lode.

Thousands of trees and branches came crashing down under the weight of the heavy snow that blanketed the region. One incident we reported here on Friday (4/5) happened in our backyard after a huge tree behind Clarke Broadcasting and the Heritage Inn hotel on South Washington Street in Sonora fell, taking out a power pole and knocking down power lines. This morning, a crew began using a chainsaw and a chipper to dispose of most of the debris.

Then, a PG&E crew put up a new pole in the afternoon and reattached the powerlines. The wintry weather wreaked havoc on PG&E power lines and equipment in the Mother Lode, leaving several thousand PG&E customers without electricity yesterday. As reported here this morning, around 1,000 customers in Tuolumne and Calaveras County remain without power, which the utility hopes to have restored by tonight.