Kevin O’Neill, director of the San Benito County Office of Emergency Services (OES), briefed county supervisors Jan. 24 about what has transpired from two weeks of flooding in the Lovers Lane area, as well as San Felipe and Shore roads. After three rounds of flooding, he said it remains extremely precarious for local residents. Even though the situation still looks dire, he said there was good news.
“The governor proclaimed a state of emergency for our county, and I believe all 58 counties in the state,” he said. “This will open up new funding to assist counties and local jurisdictions to recover from this disaster.”
O’Neill went on to say that the last two storms exacerbated the damages from the first flood. Roads and bridges in the area have been compromised and will have to undergo potentially millions of dollars of repairs. He said Brent Barnes, Resource Management Agency director, told him that the bridge on San Felipe Road, a mile south of Shore Road was potentially compromised to the point where it would need to be replaced. In his report later in the meeting, Barnes said water from either a farm water pipe or perhaps an artesian well, could be undermining and weakening the bridge. He said traffic is being restricted to local residents and smaller vehicles until the water recedes far enough so the bridge can be examined.
O’Neill said the flooding was primarily caused from too much rain in the area, as well in the Pacheco Pass. He said water was flowing two to three feet over the spillway of the dam at the privately owned Pacheco Reservoir east of Casa de Fruta, which is privately owned. Additionally, the levee break on Pacheco Creek, a quarter mile east of Lovers Lane Bridge, contributed significantly to the flooding north of the creek.
“We have a team out doing damage assessments today,” he said. “To date, we have four red-tagged structures, and we’re continuing to evaluate the total damages. We also have representatives from the governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES).”
He added that on Jan. 25 Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel) and Supervisor Mark Medina would be touring the area to be briefed on damages. He said now that the county has the disaster proclamation it needs to begin documenting costs of recovery and repair. He also thanked the residents of the area.
“I was amazed at their resiliency and the whole community effort, people watching and taking care of each other, and being vocal as how we, as the county, can help them,” O’Neill said. “I appreciate their patience through this difficult time.”
Medina commented that just before coming to the meeting he had received a phone call from the State Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“I will be speaking with them after this meeting to see what they can do to help us out,” he said, adding that someone from the department will be coming to the county to assess what needs to be done. “He also said if there are any emergency things we need to do now we can call him and work something out.”
Medina said it was his understanding that it was not possible to repair the levee until the water recedes and the creekbed dries out. O’Neill said access is extremely difficult because there are no roads to the levee, which would involve constructing a temporary road before anything could be done to repair the levee.
Supervisor Robert Rivas wanted O’Neill to explain to him and the public the process and timeline for receiving state assistance. O’Neill said that because he had just been notified the night before of the governor’s proclamation and that data was still being gathered, it was not clear how long the process would take.
“Traditionally, where he (governor) makes funding available through the California Disaster Assistance Act (CDAA), there is a 25 percent local match,” O’Neill explained, “however, that’s not necessarily a cash match. We’re fortunate we had a lot of volunteer hours. That can be used as a match. A lot of the staff time we’ve put in can be used as a match to cover that 25 percent. There’s even the possibility of the state waving the match.”
O’Neill reminded the supervisors that the flooding was not limited to just the Lovers Lane area. He said there was a widespread impact to the entire county, including a number of mudslides and downed trees around Aromas.
Rivas also asked if the county had a plan to work with Fish and Wildlife to clear Pacheco Creek.
“At this point, the plan is to create a plan,” O’Neill said. “We are working with Cal OES and Fish and Game (Wildlife) how to figure out how we can get in there. We’ve had preliminary meetings with the Department of Water Resources, but the private property issue is concerning. If the levee had not failed there, it would have failed somewhere else. If we fix that breach, it may just cause another breach further upstream. The costs are unknown at this time and that’s why we’re calling in state experts to start to get some work done.”
Supervisor Anthony Botelho said it was important to move sooner than later on repairs. He said the flood of 1997 happened in March, and that the current rainy season was barely half over. He theorized that since a local emergency had been declared it gave the county some rights to cross private property.
“Private property owners out there, including myself, would welcome any sort of help to repair the levees,” he said. “Now that we have the governor’s office onboard maybe his representatives can answer how to fund not just the cleanup, but the ongoing disaster because we don’t have a levee. It’s imperative that we develop a plan quickly. This is not a summer job. This is a job for right now.”
Botelho said the lack of creek maintenance is the main problem and in another 10 years, there will undoubtedly be another flood. He recommended that the county get in the creek as soon as possible to begin work. Supervisor Jerry Muenzer said he went through the 1997 flood and said the county needs both state and federal help. He said there is a need to clean all of the rivers and creeks in the county.
“Years ago, the property owners took on the responsibility of keeping those waterways clear,” he said. “Unfortunately, Fish and Game (Wildlife) made it very difficult for private (property) owners to do that. All of our waterways are at risk of the same thing. We need the regulations to be loosened and, hopefully, this state of emergency will cover the whole county and maybe some of the property owners can get in there. Fish and Game needs to work with us to make sure we don’t have another issue.”
Wayne Norton, an Aromas resident and a member of its water district board of directors, said he appreciated the way residents stepped up to help one another. He asked if state and federal monies are made available if there was the possibility of doing preventative work.
“We all know of areas that weren’t disaster areas, but are going to be if we don’t do something,” he said. “In our district, we would probably fill a map of potential disasters. If it’s possible, I hope we do some planning about trying to find vulnerabilities and prevent future disasters.”
Hollister City Manager Bill Avera told the supervisors the city was prepared to help in any way necessary.
“We have a lot of material available if you want to build temporary roads,” he offered. “Just let us know what it is you think you may need and we’ll see if we can get it.”
Rivas took a moment to thank Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, who he said had made repeated calls to him.
“She cares about this community and the district,” he said. “I know that she was in daily contact with the governor’s office. We were constantly asking her for assistance and to let her know how much of a disaster we were facing.”
Mike Wilson, the outgoing regional administrator for Cal OES, told the supervisors that he had to manage expectations of 16 counties, of which 13 had proclaimed emergencies. Some counties along the north coast, he said, began proclaiming emergencies as far back as Dec. 2016.
“As we coordinate these damage assessments with our counties within the coastal region an important message is we have to collect this data to show, as an aggregate, throughout our region what these storms are doing, so the governor has accurate information on the actual damage,” Wilson said.
He said state agencies understand the challenges the county is experiencing.
“We understand and our thoughts and prayers are with you,” Wilson said. “So, let’s work with these state agencies and see what we can do to get everybody coordinated through conversations and agreements to mitigate future problems, building stronger levees, clearing waterways, anything that’s necessary.”
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