• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Tulare County Assesses Damage: Flooded Residents Clean Up As Officials Brace for More Rain.

Posted on: Friday, 7 April 2006, 15:01 CDT

By Tim Sheehan, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

Apr. 7--VISALIA -- A break in the rainy weather gave Tulare County officials time to catch their breath and count their blessings Thursday, even as they prepare for the prospect of more storms coming toward the Valley.

But in some parts of the county, residents are tearing out carpets and trying to dry out homes invaded by flooding from canals that jumped their banks Wednesday.

According to the National Weather Service, the break is expected to last into this evening. But the forecast Thursday night listed a 40% chance of rain tonight. The week-ahead forecast for Fresno calls for some chance of rain every day through next Thursday.

Chris Calvero was among those looking at the damage floodwaters brought to their home north of Orosi, on Avenue424 west of Road 124. He and his wife, Melissa, moved in just last summer.

Part of their house was flooded Wednesday night after fast-flowing water tore a 30-foot breach in the south bank of the Alta East Branch Canal less than a mile to the east. Calvero, 39, went for a walk Wednesday afternoon, unaware of the hydrologic mess that was coming his way.

"When I got back, I saw the water coming over the road," he said. "By the time I got my tractor started, it was too late."

The lower level of their split-level home was quickly overwhelmed by about 6 inches of water, he said.

"We're probably going to have to live in the front room for a while," Calvero said.

Calvero's next-door neighbors, Robert and Lorraine Garver, were also surprised when water began to rise into their home, eventually reaching a depth of 4 inches.

"Everything was fine until the water got here," said Lorraine Garver, 79. "By the time we got in the house, it was all over the backyard.

"There was just no stopping it; there was water in every room," she added.

As the Garvers sat in their soggy backyard, workers from a flood-recovery company used powerful vacuum hoses and fans to dry out the house.

Mike McFarland of Gilstrap's Carpet Cleaning and Flood Restoration, from Porterville, said his company and others have been swamped with calls from homeowners needing help after flooding.

"I was going to have the carpets cleaned," Lorraine Garver said, "but I didn't want it this way."

Tulare County officials spent Wednesday trying to assess how much damage was done to homes and businesses throughout the county. It's not yet clear how many homes were flooded this week.

Residents expressed confusion about whom to call to report damage or to seek disaster help, and wondered whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency might get involved.

County Administrator Brian Haddix on Wednesday declared a local state of emergency, a first step for the county to seek help for residents and recover costs for flood responses.

Eric Coyne, a county spokesman, said residents are encouraged to call the county assessor to report damage.

"They need to call the assessor so we can evaluate the damage and record it," Coyne said Thursday. "Then we'll see what type of local relief we can offer, perhaps property tax relief."

But until Gov. Schwarzenegger declares a state of emergency that includes Tulare County, and then the federal government follows suit, "there's nothing FEMA can do," Coyne said.

State or federal disaster declarations could clear the way for the county to recover some of its costs for emergency response, including overtime and equipment, and perhaps result in additional help for residents.

Flooding also posed problems for several county facilities, including the Tulare County Juvenile Hall and the Bob Wiley Detention Center at Avenue 368 and Road 112.

Both were threatened Wednesday when water breached the south bank of Cottonwood Creek behind Juvenile Hall.

Nancy Loliva, a county spokeswoman, said Thursday that other areas reporting flood damage included east Orosi and Strathmore.

"We're happy that we actually dodged some bullets," Loliva said. "At Frazier Creek [near Strathmore], we were very concerned about that spilling over, but we caught a break and the water was going down."

Also doing its part to control flooding on the Valley floor was Terminus Dam, on the Kaweah River in the foothills east of Visalia.

Behind Terminus Dam, Lake Kaweah looked rather full on Thursday -- but looks can be deceiving.

The lake can hold 185,000 acre-feet of water. On Saturday, before this week's rainstorms struck, the lake's storage was 60,000 acre-feet, said Phil Deffenbaugh, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers park manager for Lake Kaweah. By Thursday morning, the lake held about 90,000 acre-feet of water -- still less than half its capacity.

One acre-foot amounts to about 326,000 gallons, or enough water to cover an acre to a depth of 1 foot.

In Merced, officials announced an initial flood damage estimate of $9.72 million.

But that total is certain to go up as more homes, farms, businesses and public facilities are assessed.

Elaine Post, spokeswoman for Merced County, said damage estimates cover 152 homes, eight recreational vehicles, three apartments and one office building.

The Madera County Sheriff's Department said Thursday that some Berenda Slough levees that flooded roads and farmland south of Chowchilla on Wednesday broke again overnight but no water was reported in homes.

The Chowchilla Water District reported that its crews still were working against a heavy flow from Berenda Reservoir that was expected to continue for two or more days.

On Thursday afternoon, all the levees on the west side of the slough were secure but water still flowed through the east levee breaks.

Valley legislators seized on the flooding to build support for water storage projects in Sacramento. Several then flew by helicopter to Friant Dam to press for a dam at Temperance Flat.

They believe new dams could help with flood control by capturing water that would otherwise overwhelm rivers and streams.

Earlier in the day, state Sen.Jeff Denham, R-Merced, made a plea on the Senate floor for state help, telling Senate members: "We have an issue with water here in this state. It's not just in my district where we're seeing dramatic floods. It's in your districts as well where you need water. Now is the time to fix this situation."

Most state Democrats take the environmentalist view that conservation and levee improvements are the answer to the state's water problems, not new dams. But Denham was joined at Friant by Assembly Member Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, and a representative of U.S. Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced.

Assembly Member Mike Villines, R-Clovis, also attended, as did Fresno Deputy Mayor Roger Montero, Fresno County Supervisor Bob Waterston and representatives of Reps. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, and Devin Nunes, R-Visalia. All spoke in favor of the Temperance project.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, D-Los Angeles, disagreed in a brief interview in Sacramento. "I don't support using public monies to invest in private dams that make a few people a whole lot of money," he said.

The disagreement was a key factor in derailing talks to get an infrastructure bond on June's ballot.

Lawmakers continue to meet in hopes of reaching a bond deal for November's ballot.

"We've been meeting, but we've been rather quiet about it namely because we don't want to set any type of expectation either good or bad," Nuñez said.

Denham said support is growing for dam projects. But Nuñez said there was "certainly not" a chance dam money would end up in any bond proposal.

Lloyd Carter, lawyer and director of conservation group Revive the San Joaquin, said "it's a red-herring to use flood control benefits" as a justification to build a new dam at Temperance.

He said "they're not going to get all that much additional flood protection" because the new dam and reservoir would likely be kept full to supply water to agriculture interests.

Dams and reservoirs "have value in flood control [only] if you keep them empty," he said.

Bee staff writers Jim Guy, Charles McCarthy and E.J. Schultz and the Merced Sun-Star contributed to this report. The reporter can be reached at tsheehan@fresnobee.com or (559) 622-2410.

Advertisements

Holiday Pools

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Fresno Bee

More News in this Category