Editor’s note: This article was updated Jan. 14 at 6 p.m. to include the new evacuation site at Hollister Community Center.
The Hollister Veterans’ Memorial Building in Hollister has been closed as an evacuation center for San Benito County residents. Lovers Lane and Dunneville area residents affected by the flooding, however, are still in need of shelter. Veterans’ Memorial Building manager Maria Spandri told BenitoLink the evacuation center, which was staffed by members of the American Red Cross since Monday, was closed on Thursday at 4 p.m.
San Benito County Public Information Officer Monica Leon told BenitoLink Saturday evening the new evacuation center for San Benito County residents, currently open with staff to assist, is located at the Hollister Community Center at 300 West St. in Hollister.
Evacuee, Pedro Cardenas, got in contact with BenitoLink on Friday afternoon. He told BenitoLink his family home on Lovers Lane was damaged by the flooding on Monday and was unaware of the resources and shelter available to them.
“No one told us what our resources were,” Cardenas said, who spent his own money to stay four nights at a motel with his family, which included a sister, niece, mother and girlfriend.
Cardenas said he returned to the area on Tuesday to check on damage to their home and on their neighbors and found county officials had not yet contacted residents who were still in their homes.
“We pretty much felt like it was a ghost town; like it was abandoned,” he said. “No one was going up and down the street saying, ‘Here are the resources.’”
He said many families living on his portion of Lovers Lane only speak Spanish and were not aware of the resources available to them. He said they are still living in their homes in unsanitary conditions.
“We kept calling [people],” Cardenas said. “We called the city and we called the county, and all they told us was, ‘We have no resources, call the Red Cross.”
He said, “We called the Red Cross, the Red Cross tells us, ‘Oh go to the resources at the Veterans’ Office downtown. It’s open today.’ We go to the Veterans’ today, and it’s closed. So we were just getting the runaround.”
Cardenas’ family has now found temporary shelter through San Benito County’s migrant housing.
Information Officer Leon told BenitoLink today, “This morning, myself and the sheriff’s department, along with staff from the Office of Emergency Services went out to Lovers Lane and actually handed out flyers in English and in Spanish to residents that answered doors.” Leon said they provided a storm related resource list.
BenitoLink asked Leon who people should contact if they are still in need of shelter or housing.
“They would need to call the American Red Cross,” she said. “[The Red Cross] been instructed as to who to contact to get those housing situations set up.” [1-877-272-7337]
At 3:43 p.m. Jan. 14, a mandatory evacuation was placed for San Benito County for residents living from San Felipe Rd. to CA 156 to the County Line, Lovers Lane, Lake Rd. Dunneville Estates and portions of Shore Rd. from San Felipe to Frazier Lake Roads. No emergency information about an evacuation center location was included in the notice.
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