More Downtown Sacramento Seniors Evacuated As SMUD Outage Stretches Into Night Two

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — More Sacramento seniors were under evacuation orders Wednesday night following that massive Downtown Sacramento SMUD power outage.

Seniors were shuttled from the Riverview Plaza apartment complex on 6th and I streets onto Sacramento Regional Transit buses for a ride to a better night's sleep at a motel.

The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency had allowed residents to stay in their Riverview Plaza units the first night of the outage because the building has a back-up generator.

The agency said a second night without full power was not safe.

Dane Wilson came to pick his mother up.

"The decision was made today, I don't know the particulars on it," Wilson said. "Uncertainty and I think the building systems don't seem to have back-up other than one elevator."

As seniors moved out of downtown, Sacramento Kings fans drove in, even with traffic signals down and street lights off.

"It was a little game of Frogger here," Kings fan Kirk Uhler said. "I had to jump from a log and not get hit by the cars."

Old Sacramento's hundreds of small businesses remained powerless. A few found creative ways to stay open. One business reported $10,000 a day in losses, and another reported $4,000 a day in losses.

The SMUD outage also forced families to miss a trip on the Polar Express — a gut-punch for families arriving to find out the ride with the golden ticket would not board.

"Pretty bummed," mom Michelle Cerling said.

She brought her twin 5-year-old boys dressed in dinosaur pajamas for the Christmas-themed event.

The Polar Express ride is the largest fundraiser of the year for the California State Railroad Museum.

"Our revenue is about $100,000 per night plus store sales that we're looking at losing at this point," California State Railroad Foundation COO Tim Schroepfer said.

The Downtown Sacramento SMUD power outage is creating a dark and daunting holiday season.

Read more
f

We and our partners use cookies to understand how you use our site, improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. Read about how we use cookies in our cookie policy and how you can control them by clicking Manage Settings. By continuing to use this site, you accept these cookies.