Dry weather conditions persist in the Central Valley. While the drought is hurting those in the agriculture industry, the construction industry might be getting an unexpected boon.
Winter is a time that's normally slow for those in the construction industry, but at a construction site in Clovis, crews were busy Monday preparing soil where new homes will soon be built.
"This is the driest I've ever seen it, but we're also busier than we've ever been as well," says Holden Oliver, a foreman with Tri County Grading & Paving.
Dry weather conditions mean construction crews can make progress and get ahead on projects that would normally be put off due to the rain.
"At the moment, it helps everything that we're doing on site because one, the projects are already started, two, it allows us to move forward with work we haven't begun," Oliver says.
Bill Bretz, a water truck driver with Tri County, says he'd normally be out of a job in the winter. So for him, no rain means he can take home a paycheck.
"It's good for me as a water truck driver. It's real good. I get to work through January. Normally, most water truck drivers don't work through January or February," Bretz says.
But workers at the construction site were careful not to call the lack of rainfall a blessing because they know it's something the Central Valley desperately needs.
For the contstruction industry, it is an unexpected silver lining.
"I'm able to work and make the money. So we're not struggling as we normally would be. We didn't have to save a whole bunch of money this year for winter," says Anthony Fail, a soil inspector.