COBB- With the help of the gleaners, their members, and Community Emergency Response team members, as well as donations from PG&E including a trailer with a generator, the Cobb Mountain Lions staffed the Little Red School House in Cobb as a community warming center Saturday, with longer operating hours on Sunday.
The forecast called for another foot or two in the evening Sunday, hampering some residents from accessing needed resources to weather the powerful system which according to the Office of Emergency Services and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office initially left over 33,600 residents without power going into the weekend, a lot facing the daunting cold temperatures.
Reports of on and off outages and road closures in both Lake and Mendocino followed. According to NWS-Eureka, snowfall was mostly complete by Friday, but cold temperatures in the mid-low 20s around the lake with snowfalls predicted to return in the evening Sunday.
The Club has a contract with PGE as a PSPS resource center. According to longtime Lions’ member Kyle Noble, District 5 Supervisor and former vice chair of the Cobb Area Council, Jessica Pyska was instrumental in getting the center up and running Saturday.
“She knows the needs of residents,” said Noble, adding that Pyska worked with PG&E arranging for the generator to power the center and also arranged for them to donate Go Bags with emergency essentials like blankets, bottled water, snacks and perhaps most importantly, portable USB batteries for emergency charging of phones and other devices.
In addition to the Go Bags, hot beverages, heat and internet access, club members including Noble and club President Robert Stark, were busy staffing the center and offering rides to residents who were unable to get to the facility, in addition to sending Go Bags to residents in need of them.
Loch Lomond residents Ron and Luara Jensen stopped by the center Sunday to pick up and to deliver Go Bags to an older neighbor.
“We were all snowed in,” said Noble, who added that a lot of the Lion Club members had to wait until enough snow was plowed in order to continue their volunteering at the facility. “The issue is the county doesn’t have enough snowplow equipment when it snows everywhere around the county,” said the club members. Stark indicated he didn’t see a snowplow until 11 AM Saturday, but noted that South Lake County Fire District were busy plowing neighborhood roads since the county doesn’t have enough crews to tend to non-maintained private roads. “Everybody’s resources are pressed to the max.”
At press time Sunday, 154 Go Bags had been distributed at the facility with some also taken to the Kelseyville Riviera and other parts of the county which are not normally as prepared for heavy snowfall. By late Sunday, the county still had not serviced any of the subdivisions like Whispering Pines and the subdivision with the Golf course. Stark said the warming center would be open as long as volunteers could get to the facility and until power was restored everywhere in Cobb.
Possible postponement of the annual All-You-Can-Eat Crab feed scheduled for next weekend (March 4) was also a topic of discussion, given the possibility of another strong storm hitting the region. Noble said there was a possibility of obtaining a grant from the Cobb Area Council from funds collected for the Blackberry Festival fundraiser for the club to purchase their own generator. A generator donated by CAL-Fire is no longer operational.
Noble, whose involvement with the club dates back to 2016 following the Valley Fire and who has served previously as district region chair for Lake County, said that better communication from the county would have helped residents be more prepared. “We didn’t fully understand the severity of this storm,” she said. “We didn’t know there would be a shortage of snowplows.” She added that announcements or alerts could also be made in future emergencies to remind people to carry cash, as some stores and retailers were not able to take digital payments.
Additionally, given the current road conditions and the forecasted overnight lows, residents were urged by officials to please remain home if possible. If travel is unavoidable, officials urged motorists to check conditions first:
For County Road Updates: follow the Department of Public Works on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Lakecountydpw
For Highway Updates: Visit CalTrans quickmap tool for highway information: https://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/
At press time the Lions Club also planned to open the warming center from 9 to 6 pm Monday, unless access to the facility wasn’t possible.If you are in need of transportation to this location, call 707-715-7008
