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City services are being quickly restored after damaging quake.
Although the city of Napa and neighboring areas in Northern California’s Napa Valley sustained some significant localized damage after Sunday morning’s 6.0 magnitude earthquake, recovery has been fairly rapid for most city services.
“Very impressive progress has been made in terms of electric and gas,” Napa’s city manager Mike Parness, said during a Monday press conference.
Pacific Gas & Electric “has flooded the city with resources,” he said. “Typically when I say flooding in this city it’s not good news but in this case it is.”
Parness said that 70,000 electric customers in Napa were without power following the earthquake. By the end of Sunday, there were only 15,000 without power and “less than 10 customers in town without power” as of the 11 a.m. press conference on Monday.
Parness said that Queen of the Valley hospital reported 208 patients with earthquake-related injuries on Sunday, most with orthopedic injuries. One person remains hospitalized in critical condition. No new patients were treated as of 11 p.m. Sunday, Parness said. There are no known earthquake-related fatalities.
All of the gas main breaks from the quake or reports of potential breaks have been resolved. PG&E, Parness said, was using a “gas-sniffing truck” to detect leaks.
Roughly 600 properties were impacted by water-service disruptions but all service is forecasted to be restored by Wednesday or Thursday.
Napa’s fire chief, John Callanan, said during the press conference that he had high confidence in the city’s water-delivery infrastructure. “So the question was if we were to have a fire right now would I be concerned about water pressure in the city of Napa and the answer is no. I’m not concerned now. Unfortunately, we do have parts of our system that are aged. We have an older community. That being the case, I feel very comfortable with our hydrants and support system for our fire apparatus.”
The city also advised residents who experienced water-service disruptions to either use bottled water for drinking and cooking, boil tap water for one full minute before using or use water provided at one of the city’s water-distribution points.
Rick Tooker, Napa’s community development director, said that there were a total of 49 red-tagged buildings in the city—meaning that damage is severe enough for officials to declare them off limits—including a local senior center. As the city crews inspect more buildings, that number could rise, Tooker said.
WATCH: City of Napa’s Monday morning press conference on earthquake recovery via KRON-TV
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