South Bay officials keep eye on Coyote Creek as season's 1st wet storm system looms
SAN JOSE – As the Bay Area braces for the first significant rainstorm of the season, city and water officials in the South Bay say they are prepared to work in a unified fashion if and when heavy rains start to fall.
"I know as you stand here right now--and you see how bright and sunny it is outside--I'm sure many of you have seen the news that's coming that we're about to be hit with our first few atmospheric storms," said Valley Water CEO Rick Callender.
From drought to deluge--after the roller coaster ride of the last few years, San Jose and Valley Water have learned not to take news of a coming storm lightly.
"After last year's series of storms--it was almost 30 atmospheric rivers that hit the Bay Area--it's unbelievable to imagine that, yes, once again, it's forecasted to be yet another wet, El Nino year," Callender told CBS News Bay Area.
Officials from the city and the local water agency briefed the media on the preparations that are well underway to prevent a reoccurrence of flooding of Coyote Creek in 2017, which resulted in millions of dollars of damage, and lawsuit settlements.
As part of the creek's Flood Management Measures Project, large steel interlocking panels have been driven into the ground to form a solid barrier in places where the creek is apt to overflow its banks.
"Our goal with this project is to reduce the risk of flooding to homes, schools, businesses, highways in the Coyote Creek Flood Plain to prevent what occurred in 2017," said Valley Water Board Director Richard Santos.
Contributing to the disaster more than six years ago was the near overflow of Anderson Reservoir.
The dam was considered seismically weak and officials frantically began releasing water to prevent its collapse. Since then, the reservoir has been drained and a huge new retrofit project is underway to better control water releases from the dam.
When finished, the Anderson Reservoir retrofit project will allow much faster release of water during a weather emergency.
One of the purposes of the new steel flood barriers downstream is to protect against those higher flows.
In 2017, lack of communication between the city and Valley Water was also a problem, but both say that has improved--even as the storms have gotten worse.
"I think both of our organizations are pretty open minded to the way that weather has changed over the past two years, and how it's going to continue to evolve in the coming years," said Alexander Gordon, Valley Water's Assistant Officer for the Emergency Safety and Security Division. "So, I think with that background, I think we're very flexible. And the biggest point here is, we plan together, we train together, we respond together, we help each other out. And, as long as we have that strong partnership, I think we're going to be in a good spot to deal with these upcoming storms."
Atmospheric rivers may be considered "acts of God," but in 2017 San Jose learned that it is the actions of man that often determine how much of a problem they will create.