Westside Reader December 2015

December 2015 THE Reader • 11
‘Godzilla’ is Coming
Santa Clarita prepares for Monster El Niño
By Robb Fulcher
Staff Writer
Here comes “Godzilla.” That’s the name
NASA climatologist Bill Patzert has
given to the coming El Niño storms,
which could rival the force of the 1997-98 El
Niño, which caused $550 million in damage
and 17 deaths in California, turning 35 counties
into federal disaster areas.
Scientists watching the warning signs –
such as unusually warm temperatures in the
Pacific Ocean — expect a series of El Niño
storms to pound Southern California in the
winter, and possibly into the spring.
In the Santa Clarita Valley, officials are taking
measures large and small to prepare for
deluges of rain and wind, and to deal with the
worst of its effects, such as flooding and mudslides.
Officials are giving residents disaster-preparedness
tips, making sure storm drains
and water retention basins are cleaned out,
inspecting flood-prone areas to shore up
their defenses, and preparing for potential
evacuations.
In Santa Clarita, officials are brushing up
on how to request FEMA funds if a federal
disaster area is declared.
“There’s been a lot of preparation,” said
Sgt. Tim Vander Leek of the Santa Clarita Valley
sheriff’s station.
el niño
What you can do
On its website ReadyForRain.santaclarita.com,
the City of Santa
Clarita urges a number of steps
valley residents can take to prepare for
the storms.
Included is advice to keep emergency
supplies on hand, such as a flashlight,
water, food, first aid kit and a portable
radio with extra batteries. You should
know how to turn off a home’s utilities,
and know access route(s) in and out of the
immediate neighborhood.
The city urges residents to clear out
drains and rain gutters, clear downspouts
in rain barrels, remove the overflow drain
cover, and inspect roofs to check for loose
tiles, holes, or other signs of trouble.
Residents are urged to inspect retaining
wall drains, surface drains and ditches
before and after rains.
Inspecting sloped areas for cracks or
slumping, and checking patios and garden
walls for signs of cracking or rotation,
which can indicate slope movement that
should be looked at by a geotechnical engineer.
During a storm, residents are urged to
keep copies of documents such as mortgage
papers, deeds, passports and bank
information on a CD, flash drive, or with
an online service, and/or keep hard
copies in a safe deposit box.
Residents are urged to keep away from
flood control debris basins, channels, facilities,
river beds, downed power lines
and electrical wires, and to avoid driving
through a flooded area. Downed lines
See El Niño, page 12
Eye on Newhall
Armed with flood maps, county sheriff’s
and fire officials are keeping an eye on vulnerable
sites including a Newhall area that is
home to the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center
and Crescent Valley mobile home park.
That area will be prone to floods and mudslides
for several years, because of its proximity
to the site of the Calgrove Fire, which
burned 415 acres in June, consuming vegetation
that would otherwise slow the water
and mud.
According to an Aug. 25 report by the Los
Angeles County Water Resources Division,
areas that the Calgrove Fire has rendered especially
vulnerable include:
• The Old Road.
• Cross Street, Davey Avenue, Haskell Vista
Lane, Calgrove Boulevard, and a privately
owned portion of Wildwood Canyon Road
within Santa Clarita.
• Residential properties below the burned
hillsides along Agramonte Drive, Cross
Street, Davey Avenue, Haskell Vista Lane, and
Wildwood Canyon Road, and within the Crescent
Valley mobile home park.
County officials say it will be four or five
years before the
Calgrove Fire
area “has significantly
recovered
from the
burn.”
In the area,
workers were
m o n i t o r i n g
flood basins,
giving at least
one of them a
p r e - s t o r m
cleanout, and
installed risers on culverts at The Old Road,
to handle a greater volume of runoff.
Ken Kondo, spokesman for the Los Angeles
County Office of Emergency Management,
urged residents to follow a three-step preparation
process (see related story), which includes
identifying an evacuation route, plus
one or two backup routes in case the first one
is blocked.
In an evacuation, people should be ready
to “hit higher ground,” but “should not try to
cross any flooding,” Kondo said. “We call that,
Santa Clarita city workers lay down sandbags to slow potential el Niño flooding. CouRTeSy phoTo
‘Turn around, don’t drown.’”
If an evacuation is blocked by flooding,
people should wait for law enforcement or
fire officials, and “let them know right away
if somebody is trapped or swept away,”
Kondo said.
Santa Clarita officials warn people to avoid
walking through a flooded area, where just a
few inches of
“We’ve grown more since the
1997-1998 El Niño. There’s a
larger area that we address, but
the [standard operating procedure]
is still the same. We’ve mitigated a
bunch of hot spots, now we are
addressing potentially new ones.”
moving water
can knock people
off their
feet.
R e s i d e n t s
can stay informed
of a
coming evacuation
on social
media, over
the radio, and
by signing up
for text alerts
(see related story).
First responders will go door-to-door to
notify people as well.
“If we don’t get an answer we’ll try the
neighbors. We urge that if you’re going out of
town, and you have a neighbor you’re comfortable
telling that you will be out of your
house, they can tell us that you’re gone,” Vander
Leek said.
“If we don’t get an answer, and somebody
is disabled inside the home, and we know
they are in there, we’ll go in there and get
Santa Clarita city workers use heavy equipment to clean out a tunnel next to Discovery park, in anticipation
of potential el Niño flooding. CouRTeSy phoTo
them,” Vander Leek said.
County officials also are watching the
“Powerhouse area” northeast of Santa Clarita,
where fires in recent years have increased the
chances of flooding and mudslides, Kondo
said.
‘Ready for rain’
Santa Clarita officials have launched a
“Ready for Rain” webpage (ReadyForRain.
Santa-Clarita.com) with El Niño updates, tips
and emergency alert sign-ups.
“With El Niño brewing, we’re expecting a
large amount of rain in a small amount of
time, so it’s critical that we prepare now for
all that rain that may come all at once,” said
Mayor Marsha McLean.
“There are simple things you can do
around your home to minimize the damage
that may come from heavy rainfall in your
area,” McLean said.
Santa Clarita officials are clearing debris
from streets, cleaning and monitoring storm
drains, pruning problematic trees and inspecting
city facilities, trails and construction
sites.
“We’re doing our best to get ahead of this
potentially damaging storm system,” McLean
said.
Especially vulnerable to flooding or mudslides
are areas near slopes that are unstable,
or lack enough vegetation to slow the flow of
rain or mud.
Growing pains
Emergency Services Supervisor Donna
Nuzzi said officials have worked to keep up
with the growth of the city, adding storm
drains and taking other mitigation measures.
“We’ve grown more since the 1997-1998
El Niño. There’s a larger area that we address,
but the [standard operating procedure] is still
the same,” she said. “We’ve mitigated a bunch
of hot spots, now we are addressing potentially
new ones.”
Years ago “Soledad Canyon used to flood
like a pond” near the Saugus Speedway, until
the waters were diverted by methods including
a new storm drain.
“Bridges were undermined. Some have
been widened. . . . The Bouquet Canyon
Bridge [over the Santa Clara River] used to be
a wooden bridge,” she said.
With the next round of El Niño weather approaching,
officials continue to carefully
watch the city’s areas of new growth, even
though developers have taken steps to prevent
flooding.
See Godzilla, page 12