Affluent Calif. county joining disaster list: lawmaker

By Jim Christie

SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) – As California towns hit
hard by flooding after days of heavy rains cleaned up on
Tuesday, a state lawmaker said officials would add affluent
Marin County, north of San Francisco, to a list of counties
eligible for disaster funds.

Separately, lawmakers in the state capital of Sacramento
predicted the flooding would add momentum to plans for a
massive state infrastructure bond that would include funding
for upgrading the state’s aging levee system.

Marin, the California county with the state’s highest home
prices, became the eighth county declared in a state of
emergency by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The counties will be
eligible for state and federal funds to help recover from
flooding caused by two powerful winter storms.

On Monday, Schwarzenegger designated Del Norte, Humboldt,
Sacramento, Trinity, Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties as
eligible for funds to cover the costs of cleaning up from
floods and mudslides.

Heavy rains over the weekend swelled rivers and streams
across northern California, hitting the heart of the state’s
wine region in Napa Valley and Sonoma County especially hard.

The city of Napa was flooded and suffered an estimated $110
million in damages to homes and businesses, but shops in its
downtown are reopening, city spokesman Peter Dreier said.

Napa winemakers dodged damage as they had already harvested
grapes and planted cover in vineyards to hold down soil.

Southwest of the famed wine region, San Anselmo in Marin
County suffered some of its worst flooding in decades as local
creeks overflowed into its shopping district, leaving
storefronts filled with mud and waterlogged goods.

“I think it’s fair to say it’ll be in the tens of millions
of dollars,” Assemblyman Joe Nation, who represents Marin
County, said of expected losses in San Anselmo.

Nation told Reuters that Schwarzenegger aides had agreed to
add Marin County to the list of hard-hit areas on Tuesday
afternoon. A spokeswoman for the governor declined to comment.

Meanwhile, lawmakers from California’s Delta region, which
is crisscrossed by levees, said the weekend’s storms ensured
funding for levee repairs would be a top priority in any
infrastructure bond.

Schwarzenegger is expected to unveil his ideas for an
infrastructure bond in his state of the state speech on
Thursday. He has thrown out the possibility of the state
issuing up to $50 billion in debt to finance upgrading
highways, parts, levees and other infrastructure.

State Senate President Don Perata’s bond plan calls for the
state to issue $10.3 billion in general obligation debt to
finance infrastructure projects, including levee repairs.

How much repairs would cost is uncertain, said Assemblyman
Joe Canciamilla, Democratic chairman of a committee overseeing
the state’s inland waterways.

Republican Assemblyman Alan Nakanishi from Lodi neighboring
California’s delta predicted lawmakers would not ignore levees
as in past years. “It will be a high priority,” he said.

Nation, a Democrat, said the weekend’s storms could usher
in a bipartisan push on levee repairs. “I’m hoping this will be
the case where we can all lock arms,” he said.