Acampo mobile home park remains under evacuation order until homes deemed safe
ACAMPO — An evacuation order remains in place for Arbor Mobile Home Park in Acampo one week after rising water trapped people in their homes.
According to county emergency officials, the threat of flooding at Arbor Mobile Home Park has now evolved into a new issue: structurally unsafe and possibly contaminated homes.
For that reason, county officials said the evacuation order remains in place on Saturday. However, the county will lift the order once crews can assess if the homes are safe to enter and inhabit.
That is scheduled to happen Monday, the county's office of emergency services confirmed.
Power crews are also expected to restore electricity to the complex Monday.
"Yeah, on Monday, hopefully. And check all the houses before they give the okay to come back and move in," said neighbor Julian Lopez.
But with the floodwater receding, many residents were confused, thinking they were cleared to come home Saturday. They learned once they got there, that was not the case.
Lopez was one of several neighbors who came Saturday to stock up on supplies from his home.
"They told us when we left we wouldn't be able to come back inside," said Lopez.
Misinformation confused already stressed and displaced families Saturday. Several neighbors said they heard from the complex's management or other residents that they could return home Saturday since the water had receded.
"It's very frustrating," said Michele Perez, who got her hopes up thinking she could return home.
San Joaquin County Sheriff's deputies guard the neighborhood's entrance all day and allow residents one quick trip in to grab supplies from their homes, escorted by officers.
"My daughter has to get her medication. So the sheriff took her to our mobile home to get it," said Perez.
Around 30 evacuees from the mobile home park and a dozen pets have been staying at the Red Cross evacuation center at the Lodi Grape Festival Grounds for a week, waiting for the all-clear to go home.
"Everything needs to be inspected and approved before we can, and we have no official information on how long that's gonna take. So I can't make any plans. That's the hardest part. Everyone here has the same frustration," said Brad Hendrickson.
Brad, his wife, and two dogs are sleeping at the shelter in Lodi on their seventh day. He and fellow Acampo evacuees say they have been left with few answers.
"The information flow has really been lacking. We don't know who is in charge of telling us what is happening or what the plan is. We don't know why they are not talking to us," said Hendrickson.
County officials say the earliest people could return home would be Monday, but that's only if the foundations of the houses are deemed secure. Until then, the nearly 200 people displaced will have to wait.
"A lot of these homes up front are pretty well destroyed and covered in feces water. They need to be checked out before anyone can come back," said resident Austin Jackson.
He is among the dozen families who chose not to follow the evacuation orders and has been stuck at his home for a week.
"They have told us if we leave, we can't come back. At all," said Jackson.
He says they have toughed it out this long, so they plan to stay. They have relied on food, and supplies brought to them by neighbors.
"We're just kind of hanging in there. We got generators to keep us afloat for now, but the no power thing has been quite the struggle."
CBS13 attempted to speak with the management of Arbor Mobile Home Park on Saturday about the path forward for residents. A call service answered our phone call, but we have yet to reach management for comment as the office is closed until Monday.
