Drivers are taking stock of their tires as the Central Valley experiences the first wet weather of the season. One local tire company says it's been busy with customers coming in to replace their bald tires and worn-out windshield wiper blades.
Power companies are also experiencing some issues with the first storm. Thousands of PG&E customers temporarily lost power throughout the day.
Mechanics at Performance Tire in Fresno spend the day changing and rotating tires. The owner says rainy weather typically encourages customers to take care of overdue maintenance.
“[We’ve sold] lots of wiper blades and also lots of tires,” said Caryn Kilgore, owner of Performance Tires.
She says when the roads are wet, the most important car parts to check are tires, brakes, wiper blades and lights. The California Highway Patrol offers advice we've heard time and again, but warrants repeating.
“First and foremost, slow down. Put more distance between you and the car in front of you. And another thing is just give yourself more time to get to your destination,” said Officer Sean Duncan.
Drivers like Kellie Mitchell saw what can happen when people aren't being careful.
“People just driving stupid, you know, still driving fast with this rainy condition, a lot of oil on the road, and there was a bad accident,” said Mitchell.
The rain also impacts power lines. PG&E’s Denny Boyles explains how sprinkles caused short-term outages up and down the valley.
“Over the summer you'll get dust building up on lines and if it's a light rain that first storm will actually form some mud and cause outages for us,” said Boyles.
Around 4pm on Monday, PG&E reported several outages around the Central Valley. The largest effected about 1,000 customers in Fresno in the area between Ashlan and Nielsen and between West and Van Ness.
Highway 59 in Merced will be closed until about 9pm because of downed power lines.
