San Mateo homeowners still dealing with storm aftermath look to the future with concern
SAN MATEO — Some San Mateo homeowners are still dealing with the aftermath of the winter storms that happened months ago, and they are worried future storms will be just as disastrous.
When the New Year's storm hit, about a foot of water inundated the first floor of Walter Aldana's home, which is on the San Mateo Lagoon. He's dealt with mold, foundation issues and extensive damage since then.
"This storm is going to cost me $150,000," he said. "It has not been easy – not only from a cost-perspective, but just managing this whole thing."
Aldana has put a serious amount of money and time into repairing his home, but he still isn't confident he won't have to deal with this situation again, this winter.
"It's had lingering effects on our psyche. Is it going to happen again?" he told CBS News Bay Area. "What is the plan? What is the plan to prevent something like this from ever happening again."
San Mateo Mayor Amourence Lee said the city is working on both long-term and short-term solutions.
"Long-term, we need designated and dedicated funding for our infrastructure improvements to manage storm water and mitigate flooding across the city," she said. "The city of San Mateo is built on a network of pipes that help us manage flooding. This infrastructure has never had dedicated funding. We have over the years fallen far behind. That needs to change."
The city is working on a mailed-ballot initiative to make that happen, according to Lee. If homeowners approve it, the measure will establish about an $8/month fee, that homeowners would pay, dedicated to funding stormwater needs and improving infrastructure.
"We hope to get $4 million annual dedicated funding that will help bring resources to some of these unfunded infrastructure needs," she said.
Lee explained the city's short-term solution is to explore immediate steps such as clearing creeks, preparing pump stations, and spot-dredging the lagoon, which is effectively the catch basin for the city's stormwater runoff.
"Clearing the creeks and doing what we are calling spot-dredging is also a really important intermediate and immediate strategy that we are working with partners on feasibility and funding for," she said. "We might be looking at opportunities to put sensors into important determining spots along the lagoon, and within our pump infrastructure, so that we can have real-time data to understand how our systems are working or not working and what we need to do in terms of re-deploying our human power and resources to be more agile and more affective in real-time."
But Olivia McNally, who's dealt with tens of thousands of dollars' worth of flood damage over the course of 2023, isn't confident the city will be able to do enough in time.
"I don't think three months is enough for them to get their act in order," she said. "Is three months enough time to clean up 17 creeks and culverts? Is three months enough time to go out and do spot-dredging in the lagoon? Is three months enough time to make sure all of the pump parts are in working order at the pump station?"
The lack of attention to a drain outside her home since the winter storm is just one of the several examples why she said she's lost some faith.
"This drain is still filled with all of the sediment and the gook," she said.
McNally was one of around 150 people who went to a recent city council meeting, demanding city leaders take action.
"This conversation should have been started in January when hundreds of homes across San Mateo were flooded," she said. "I'm frustrated that this wasn't brought on seven months ago, because if they had taken action then I'd have a lot more confidence."
Aldana hopes the city takes action, so he nor any of his neighbors have to experience this again.
"I'm living with this problem, still," he admitted.
He would like to see the city improve communication and planning before, during, and after a storm, and approach the situations with more of a sense of urgency.
"One is way too many times for people to go through this," he said. "I expect action."
As the city moves forward with finding long-term solutions, Mayor Lee said there is a new challenge they're dealing with as well: adapting to climate change.
"We are really the first generation to be living with the direct impacts of climate change. What that means is the data modeling for wet weather events is less and less reliable," she said. "In December, we were predicted to experience less than 1 inch of rain in the city of San Mateo and got over 5 inches. In some places in San Mateo, it was determined to be a 300-year event."
City leaders plan to dive deeper into flood preparations ahead of this winter at the City Council meeting scheduled for Aug. 21.