Evacuations, submerged and stalled vehicles, felled trees and a
ranch inundated with thousands of gallons of raw sewage: these were
just some of the events that struck Morgan Hill in a few hours
after the biggest storm in decades dumped nearly seven inches of
rain on the city.
Evacuations, submerged and stalled vehicles, felled trees and a ranch inundated with thousands of gallons of raw sewage: these were just some of the events that struck Morgan Hill in a few hours after the biggest storm in decades dumped nearly seven inches of rain on the city.
“It was flooded beyond manageability,” Deputy Director of Public Works Mori Struve said. “As it escalates, we had to keep redefining what we were going to accomplish.”
Public works used up their 150 to 200 barricade signs as flood waters rose Tuesday afternoon. Rain poured continuously from about 6 a.m. until about 7 p.m.
The rain rampage totaled 6.9 inches, eclipsing January 2008’s storm when 3.6 inches of rain fell, according to the National Weather Service.
While much of Morgan Hill was underwater by rush hour Tuesday, there were no injuries reported and little property damage.
Sewage spills on pumpkins
It’s the greatest of nightmares for a pumpkin patch before Halloween: Ludewig Ranch was flooded with raw sewage Tuesday evening after rain overcame the city’s lines and spewed sewage from two manholes in front of the property.
As much as 40,000 gallons of raw sewage sloshed around thousands of pumpkins at the ranch, formerly known as San Martin Country Park. While the sewage had dissipated by Thursday, concern for E. coli and other bacteria, as well as the smell, remained.
Owner Tache Ludewig was beside himself. He turned away about 50 groups Wednesday including plenty of costumed children looking forward to their free hay ride.
“This is my livelihood. October and December are the months where we make our money. It’s half of my income and keeps the ranch afloat,” Ludewig said, adding that this weekend and next are the most lucrative.
Ludewig said the city has been very cooperative. He was hopeful that the city would reimburse him for the $50,000 to $60,000 in profit he expected to make from the train and hay rides, snack bar, bounce houses and pumpkin sales. Although the city may churn some soil and tell him to wait a week before reopening, Ludewig said he just didn’t feel right about it.
“It is good fertilizer, but I can’t have children out there,” he said.
Sewer overflowed onto Ludewig’s property during January 2008’s rains, too. But Ludewig was able to sell his oat hay for a discounted price, and the overflow wasn’t as bad as this time, he said. He didn’t seek city assistance then.
Downtown engulfed
Many downtown business owners worked hard to stave off the floodwater Tuesday but to no avail, since Monterey Road was not closed.
“The cars splashed the water” over the sandbags and into the businesses, said Steve Boyce, general manager of the Morgan Hill Cigar Company, which was recently renovated after coming under new management. The new faux hardwood flooring at the store’s entrance is ruined, Boyce said.
Many businesses along Monterey between Dunne and Main avenues spent Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning sucking, mopping and blowing water out of their storefronts.
“We need water, but not inside the businesses,” Carlos Garcia, owner of Royal Clothiers said over the sound of the air dryer he borrowed from the city’s public works department Wednesday. Garcia said he and his wife and daughter were tired and sore from carrying sandbags and moving merchandise Tuesday afternoon, and spending Tuesday evening vacuuming his carpet dry once the water subsided.
The Music Tree owner Darin Dixon said as soon as the storm channel under Monterey was at capacity, the water rose above his store’s sandbags “in minutes.”
He used a 16-gallon vacuum to suck the carpets dry and filled it about 10 times, Dixon said.
Some downtown merchants questioned the city’s response to the storm.
“If they closed that one lane on Monterey” his cigar store may have remained dry, Boyce said.
Struve admitted that, in hindsight, Monterey could have been closed.
“We were doing the best we could. This was earlier in the season than we’re used to. This was the most water over a period of time that I’ve seen. Usually we get two or three hours of steady rain, and then a lull.”
The rain overwhelmed the public works staff. Their usual go-to fixes – unclogging storm drains, pumping water from trouble spots – were unavailable to them, Struve said. At the height of it, the most effective thing they could do was put up more barricades and detour motorists.
Struve said he learned a lot from this storm. In the future, the city will redefine road closures and detour more people, and proactively close roads like Monterey that are prone to flooding.
Vehicles submerged, stalled
About 20 vehicles stalled in the swampy roads throughout Morgan Hill Tuesday, including one man who made a wrong turn and landed in Butterfield’s drainage ditch at San Pedro Avenue. His SUV was completely submerged and had to be fished out Wednesday. He escaped unscathed.
There were so many road closures all over Morgan Hill that the Public Works Department ran out of signs and had to borrow from the City of San Jose. Parts of Butterfield and Monterey were closed, as well as the intersection at Monterey and Watsonville Road and many streets in the La Crosse neighborhood. Bisceglia Avenue, which runs from Church Avenue to Monterey, was closed as well.
Public works crews used portable pumps to attempt to disperse water that collected in areas that lacked adequate drainage. One such pump, in front of Trail Dust, couldn’t keep up with streams of water overflowing a retention hole next to the building.
More than 20 officers were out in force to direct traffic, close roads and respond to calls for help, Sgt. Jerry Neumayer said.
“A few felt they could drive through a closed street, got water in their engine compartment and had to be towed,” Neumayer said. “They’re kind of on their own, all of our officers (were) out doing other things.
Despite the antics of a few rebellious drivers, there were no injuries related to the storm, Neumayer said.
“It shows that a majority of our citizens are being cautious when they drive and are taking the right precautions,” Neumayer said.
Apartments evacuated
Eight families were evacuated from a Bisceglia Avenue apartment complex, due to electrocution concerns from the rising floodwater there.
They either went to stay with relatives or friends or to the Morgan Hill Presbyterian Church. About 30 people were affected.
As rain continued to pour, residents milled about in the murky water, commiserating with their neighbors and carrying belongings to waiting Jeeps and other sturdy vehicles.
Beatriz Moreno, 30, said she’s lived upstairs at the complex, which overlooks an empty lot and Monterey, for two years. This is the second time she’s been evacuated, she said. Like the other residents, Moreno seemed nonplused by the move.
Four-year-old Denise Pamona talked excitedly in Spanish as she stood on the second floor balcony awaiting transport to either the church or a relative’s.
On the ground level, residents sloshed in and out of their apartments, each inundated with more than a foot of standing water, carrying luggage, diaper bags and other belongings to stay with them overnight as they waited for the water to dissipate.
Art Soza, a housing rehabilitation coordinator with the city, said these four downstairs apartments were his first project, and it involved building a brick wall two feet high to stave off flood water. But, Tuesday’s rains easily spilled over this barrier.
The property owner considered renovating the complex to prevent flooded apartments, but decided against the $3 million project, Soza said.
Where’s Llagas Creek funding?
All this flooding again begs the question: when will the Upper Little Llagas Creek flood protection project be built?
When complete, the project will provide flood protection for 1,100 homes, 500 business and more than 1,300 acres of agricultural land in southern Santa Clara County, replacing bridges over the creek throughout Morgan Hill and rerouting channels, according to a city brochure.
Lower Llagas Creek was finished more than 10 years ago, and that’s part of the reason why Gilroy was relatively unaffected by Tuesday’s storm. But Morgan Hill’s portion stalled in the planning and design phase because of a lack in funding. The 1999 Water Resources Development Act dictates that the federal government should foot most of the $105 million bill. The state earmarked about $40 million to cover local costs in 2006, while the Santa Clara Valley Water District will pay $9.7 million and the city has agreed to pay up to $3 million for consultant work, according to a water district memo.
Former councilman Mark Grzan, whose home on Alamo Drive flooded, said the city should do more to get the long-stalled project off the ground.
“The 100 year storm is an annual occurrence,” he said, adding that council members should “be in the face of everybody” to get the project underway.
Last year, the City Council authorized Mayor Steve Tate to take a lobbying trip to Washington D.C. to push lawmakers to fund the project. While Congress approved funding Llagas Creek in 2008, they didn’t appropriate any money for it until this year, when Morgan Hill secured $245,000 for the environmental review and design work.
Mayor Steve Tate said the project has to “accelerate.”
“We have a lot more pictures now to show them” why this project is so important to Morgan Hill, Tate said.
Water district board member Rosemary Kamei, who lives in Morgan Hill, said getting federal money was a good start.
“The bottom line is we need to get that project done,” Kamei said. “It is my No. 1 priority.”
But, Deputy Public Works Director Karl Bjarke noted that much of the flooding was local and wouldn’t be alleviated by Llagas Creek, which will protect homes and businesses located within the 100-year-flood zone. This zone roughly follows Monterey from Watsonville to Llagas Road. Flooding outside this area, like in Jackson Oaks, north Morgan Hill and the La Crosse neighborhood, are more the purview of the city, Bjarke said.
As funding is available, Bjarke said the workers inch ahead on completing the city’s flood control master plan.
About 2,600 homes were without power for about an hour Tuesday morning, shortly after the storm started, PG&E spokesman Matt Nauman said. By about 10:45 a.m. eight customers throughout South County were powerless.
Not all residents were bothered by the storm. Standing water in Ester Collins’ northeast Morgan Hill neighborhood was deep enough for her to go out for a boat ride down Fountain Avenue.
“We’re just going down the street in our kayak,” Collins said on the phone.
City Manager Ed Tewes did not have an estimate of how much property damage resulted from Tuesday’s storm.
