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.