The winter rains may be over, but for San Benito County residents who live along Pacheco Creek between San Felipe Road and Lovers Lane, the cleanup process is far from over. Homes along Lovers Lane and San Felipe Road are still affected by the Pacheco Creek’s flooding in early March.
“That area [Pacheco Creek] was definitely the epicenter,” said County Emergency Services Manager Kevin O’Neill. “They had the most property destroyed and impacted.”
More than a dozen residents were evacuated from their homes while county officials assessed the safety of their property and began repair work. Some residents are still not back in their homes.
“There must have been hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage,” O’Neill said. “All of that property is privately owned, so each instance is going to be different. Some homeowners had flood insurance, but others did not.”
Candice Mancino, a resident in the Lovers Lane area and the San Benito County District Attorney, said her mortgage lender required the purchase of flood insurance.
“We are in a different situation than some of our neighbors,” Mancino said. “Our lender required that we have insurance and the insurance required that we elevate our house, so we’re OK.” Mancino said her home is about five feet off the ground, but she knows neighbors who haven’t even been able to return to their homes after the floods.
“We lost our road, that my husband took 24 years to build up, so that was heartbreaking,” she said. “I still don’t drive on Lovers Lane because I’m concerned about its safety. I drive out Pacheco Pass to get out.”
Mancino said she thinks the county has done all it can to fix the road and noted that until the levees along Pacheco Creek are fixed, it doesn’t make sense to invest in rebuilding the road.
One resident, who asked not to be named or photographed, could be seen hosing down her yard recently in an effort to clear out mud that had covered her property. O’Neill said the county is working with the United Stated Department of Agriculture to apply for Emergency Watershed Protection funds to help with the cleanup and restoration, but that the process takes time and cooperation between private property owners, and state and local officials.
“(Congressman) Jimmy Panetta’s office has been awesome, but there are processes to follow and procedural steps that still need to be followed.” O’Neill said. “The hardest part is that the county doesn’t own the levees.”
The county has supplied large dumpsters for residents to use in their cleanup and has set up a website for volunteers who would like to help at www.sanbenitorecovers.org.
Jack and Sarah Kimmich live along San Felipe Road and sustained major damage to their natural pork farm and meat business. The couple say their biggest priority now is to re-build the road they use to get on and out of their property.
“There’s a lot of trash to pick up,” Jack Kimmich said as he surveyed the mud and piles of plastic bottles and other debris that washed onto his property from the floodwaters. “We probably have $15-20,000 of damage and we didn’t have flood insurance.” The couple raise and sell natural pork to restaurants and at farmers’ markets through their CKmeatclub.com website. They said they didn’t lose any animals and that customers have been supportive.
“We have a lot of work to do, but we’re confident our business will be OK,” Kimmich said.
BenitoLink wants to hear from you if you were affected by the floods and have photos or comments to share about the flooding along Pacheco Creek. Please upload to BenitoLink, comment below or email Content Director Adam Breen at adambreen@benitolink.com.
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