Nine South Lake Tahoe and Meyers homes and businesses red tagged, 86 damaged due to snow loads
Submitted by paula on Tue, 03/14/2023 - 1:04pm
UPDATE 4 p.m.: The numbers have changed a bit during the day. There have now been 150 inspections, with 103 homes/businesses damaged and 15 red-tagged. The following streets in South Lake Tahoe and Meyers are currently closed: Ute, Choctaw, Angora Creek, and Werner Salas.
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - It is no surprise that the area has been hammered this winter, and now heavy snow loads on businesses and homes are being damaged due to collapsing roofs.
Over the past week, agencies from all over the greater Lake Tahoe region and the west slope of El Dorado County have come together to manage the emergencies that the weather has caused. An Incident Management Team
From that command, 230 personnel have been assigned to the current situation including firefighters, building inspectors, structural engineers, plow drivers, hospital personnel, and more. The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services and CALOES, have come together to efficiently coordinate response efforts and provide resources to the South Lake Tahoe community. The inspectors and engineers access structural integrity issues and provide subject matter expertise due to the volume of structures that need to be inspected at this time.
Multiple hand crews have been working throughout the basin to remove snow from around and on critical infrastructure including the hospital, senior center, and post office.
To date, nine homes and businesses have been red-tagged and cannot be inhabited, 86 have been damaged and the command team has inspected 129 structures.
A rumor started circulating on social media Monday that the National Guard is in the area and residents just call a fire department to get their roofs shoveled off. This is not accurate. What is true is El Dorado County circulated an emergency line for those in need of emergency snow removal. This is dedicated to the elderly and disabled without help or neighbor support. People are assigned based on severity - beams cracked, the structure is bowing, cracks, and other issues that compromise the integrity of a building. The building department will come out and address issues.
For the Sheriff's emergency hotline to get emergency help, email emergencyinfo@edso.org. El Dorado County had over 1200 county and city residents signed up by the weekend. Issues will not be addressed due to sheer volume unless it is a serious situation. If life-threatening, call 9-1-1.