Daily Republic: Wednesday, January 11, 2023 by mcnaughtonmedia

Rep. Porter announces bid for Feinstein’s Senate seat A9

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DAILYREPUBLIC.COM | Well said. Well read.

Vasquez will serve as Board chair for 3rd straight year Todd R. Hansen

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A vehicle splashes water while driving along Abernathy Road in Fairfield, Monday.

Solano County declares emergency due to storms Todd R. Hansen

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FAIRFIELD — Solano County supervisors on Tuesday ratified the Proclamation of Local Emergency signed a day earlier by County Administrator Bill Emlen. The apparent emergency threats from the storms, however, have mostly not been made public. “Whereas damage to infrastructure have included localized flooding, roadway slope erosion and embankment slip-outs, debris flows, landslides, the culvert failure affecting the safety of said roadways; obstruction of public roadways by stormwater, storm debris and roadway failure; damage to storm drain infrastructure; and damage to public and private utilities and damage to public facilities and parks, throughout Solano County,” the proclamation states. It goes on to state, “damages to levee infrastructure have included boils, levee breach, levee break,

A utility pole is braced to prevent it from falling along 1st Street near West Texas Street in Fairfield, Monday. overtopping, erosion from wavewash and sloughing.” The proclamation also notes the ground is saturated and with more storms in the forecast, additional damage is likely. County Public Works crews have been put on 12-hour shifts, rotating around the clock seven-days a week. Their efforts were lauded by board members for keeping the public as safe as possible. City

crews also are on full watch, including some contracted crews. Still, the declaration comes as a bit of a surprise given that while emergency officials have said they are keeping a close eye on the weather conditions, they have routinely dampened the impacts. Daily questions to officials asking about any significant problems from the storms have been routinely met with general comments about minor power outages, localized flooding, a few downed trees, some road closures, and as the storms have piled up, concerns about waterway levels – specifically creeks such as Suisun, Alamo, Ulatis, American Canyon and Green Valley. Emlen specifically noted Suisun Creek as a particular concern. Levee failures – such as “breaches,” breaks” or “overtopping” – have never been mentioned in responses to storm questions. See Solano, Page A8

Storm death toll reaches 17 as more rain, winds arrive Damage could top $1 billion Los Angeles Times SAN FRANCISCO — The latest in a series of intense winter storms continued to lash Northern California on Tuesday, bringing periods of thunderstorms, heavy rain, wind and hail to the already waterlogged region as the death toll from the extreme weather climbs. The back-to-back storms across the Golden State have killed 17 people, including two motorists who died early Tuesday in a crash on Highway 99 in Tulare

County when a tree that had been struck by lightning fell into the road, authorities said. “These floods are deadly and have now turned to be more deadly than even the wildfires here in the state of California,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a news conference over the weekend. While it’s too early to make an accurate estimate, the cost to repair the damage from these storms could reach or exceed $1 billion, according to Adam Smith, an applied cli-

matologist and disaster expert with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last year the U.S. experienced 18 weather and climate disasters costing at least $1 billion, putting 2022 in a threeway tie with 2017 and 2011 for the third highest number of billion-dollar disasters in a year, according to a report published by the agency. Thunderstorms and strong gusts whipped through Northern California on Tuesday, causing many trees to fall, including some onto homes and power lines. The National Weather Service issued a flash

flood warning for the San Francisco area Tuesday, cautioning people that thunderstorms could produce periods of heavy rain. Hail was reported in San Francisco and Oakland and in Walnut Creek, a mile-long stretch of Ygnacio Valley Road – a major thoroughfare – was closed after a tree fell on a power line. Early Tuesday, the Merced County sheriff issued a mandatory evacuation order for the town of Planada just east of Merced, affecting 4,000 residents, after Bear Creek began to flood amid heavy rain. See Toll, Page A8

FAIRFIELD — Solano County Supervisor Erin Hannigan heralded 2023 as a year of change, but as the adage goes, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Wanda Williams on Tuesday took her seat for the first time on the Board of Supervisors, the first elected Black woman to sit at the dais. And by doing so, the county board for the first time had a female majority. She replaces Jim Spering as the 3rd District representative. Williams took her ceremonial oath of office, having already been sworn in Dec. 21 during an

Solano County Superintendent of Schools Lisette Estrella-Henderson, left, and Supervisor John Vasquez take their oath of office during the Solano County Board of Supervisors meeting at the Council Chambers in Fairfield, Tuesday.

Haiti’s ‘instability’ among the topics Biden and Trudeau discuss in Mexico Tribune Content Agency The ongoing instability in Haiti became a focal point of discussions Tuesday between President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the two kicked off a North American leaders summit in Mexico City. The summit debuted on the same day that Haiti finds itself out of constitutional order with no elected leaders, after the mandate of its last remaining senators expired as of midnight on Monday. Haiti’s interim government, led by Prime Minister Ariel Henry, has asked the United States and others in the international community to support the deployment of troops to assist the country’s beleaguered police

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force in getting humanitarian relief through gang-controlled areas. The United States, which doesn’t want to send its own military in, has agreed to support the request. Along with Mexico, the United States penned a resolution at the U.N. Security Council calling for the quick deployment of an outside protection force to Haiti. Three months later, there has been no movement and no indication that a multinational force is in the offing. Canada, which has been approached by the Biden administration to lead such a force, also has not shown any public willingness to move ahead. Instead the Ottawa government has focused on

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event filled with friends, family and supporters. Ana Petero, a trustee on the Fairfield-Suisun School District board, administered the oath. Judge Wendy Getty, the presiding judge for the Solano County Superior Court, then issued the oaths, as a group, to Glenn Zook, first-term assessorrecorder; Chuck Lomeli, seven-term treasurertax collector-county clerk; Supervisor John Vasquez, starting his fifth term; three-term District Attorney Krishna Abrams; Lisette EstrellaHenderson, appointed in 2017, she has won two additional terms; and twoterm Auditor-Controller

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