Get your umbrellas ready, a frontal boundary will increase the opportunity for thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon.
As of 1 p.m., Doppler radar indicated a line of thunderstorms moving through the Modesto area heading NE towards Murphys and Arnold. Thunderstorms were also detected in Sacramento near Wheatland.
Any thunderstorms that develop have the potential to produce heavy rain, hail and gusty winds.
The threat for occasional light to moderate rain showers will remain in the forecast tonight and much of the day Thursday. A slight break in the action Friday with more rain expected this weekend.
City of Tracy Giving Out Sandbags
The City of Tracy is bracing for heaving rainstorms with a self-serve sandbagging station at the Boyd Service Center at 520 S. Tracy Blvd. through Gate 1.
“We try to supply as many and try to be prepared for any kind of storm that’s coming in the future,” David Murphy, the Public Works Superintendent for the City of Tracy said.
Murphy says the sandbagging station has been set up for several years in Tracy as a preventative measure and it stays up year-round, 24 hours a day.
“We never know when a storm is going to hit so that’s the reason why we don’t break it back down after the winter season comes along,” he said. “We do have freak storms during the summertime with thunderstorms and things like that so you never know when it’s going to happen. We want to make sure that it’s accessible at all times.”
They have about 50 to 100 sandbags ready to go at all times at the self-serve station next to a large pile of sand, empty sandbags and a contraption with empty traffic cones placed on a ladder horizontally.
Those traffic cones have the tops cut off, meant for people to be able to place the sandbags at the bottom of the cones and scoop two to three shovels of sand into them and twist the sandbags closed by themselves, without any help of another person.
“We have a supply of sand, we have a filling station, empty bags for those that can fill their own bags, as well as we try to create anywhere between 50 to 100 bags that are ready to go for folks that are maybe a little less mobile, maybe some of the handicapped folks or some of the elderly folks,” he said.
They’re limiting families to 10 sandbags per household.
If you have any questions or need assistance, you are asked to contact the City of Tracy’s Public Works Department at (209) 831-6300.
Tracy Humphrey's Facebook Live Discussing Afternoon Thunderstorm Threat
