San Jose Evacuees Return To Damaged Homes And Broken Dreams
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) – Evacuated residents have begun returning to homes near the flood-swollen Coyote Creek in San Jose, surveying the damage left behind by the 4-foot or higher torrent of water that forced them flee with little more than the clothes on their backs.
The number of evacuated residents had dropped from 14,000 to 3,800 by Thursday morning with San Jose city officials estimating that only 1,100 homes, down from 4,000, remain under mandatory evacuation.
"By Sunday, we'll be able to get a lot of people into their homes, but not all of them," assistant city manager Dave Sykes said.
Neighborhoods that remained under mandatory evacuation as of Thursday afternoon included about 350 homes in Rock Springs, homes in the area of Williams Street Park and homes near old Oakland Road.
Crews worked nearby pumping brown water that, unlike in the William Street area, is not running back into the creek on its own.
The South Bay, Riverbend and Golden Wheel mobile home parks on Oakland Road, where all 559 mobile homes are still under mandatory evacuation, are also being pumped, SJFD Capt. Mitch Matlow said.
The flood hit when the South Bay Mobile Home Park was being re-plumbed, according to Matlow. Electricity and gas have been shut off at all three parks.
Councilman Tam Nguyen spoke out on behalf of the mostly Vietnamese-speaking Rock Springs neighborhood, where about 390 homes have been flooded.
Updated information about the flooded areas is now available online in Spanish and Vietnamese as well as English.
Nguyen called for landlords in the Rock Springs neighborhood not to charge their tenants rent for three months because, he said, "for the next couple months or so, I don't think they'll be able to stay here."
A flooded pumping station has temporarily jeopardized sanitary sewer service in the neighborhood, so portable toilets are being delivered Thursday while crews work to fix the problem, city spokesman David Vossbrink said.
While mandatory evacuation orders have been lifted for most neighborhoods, city health officials are still warning returning residents about the dangers lurking in the receding waters.
A toxic mixture of chemicals from flooded vehicles, overrun sewers and garbage was contained in the water, forcing officials to tell residents exposed to it to rinse off and to get a tetanus shot.
Evacuee Jonathan Rascon walked near his flooded apartment in the Rock Springs neighborhood, his shoes covered with trash bag booties. He said they were his last pair of shoes and he did not want to ruin them.
"I wrapped them up in plastic so they don't get contaminated and I would have to throw them away," he told KPIX 5. "I can't afford to throw them away right now."
Nearby, homeowner Norwita Powell was surveying the damage to her home. On the wall of the basement was a clear waterline, a reminder of the more 4-feet of floodwater that destroyed everything stored there.
She recalled a 1997 flood in the same neighborhood, but said this week's was much worst.
"In '97, the water came up to the deck level but did not get into the basement," she said. "This year it got into the basement and it flooded about 4 feet in the basement."
Throughout the evacuated neighborhoods there are flooded cars – many damaged beyond repair. Many apartment houses have been spray painted with a large X by city officials, an indication that the dwelling is still unsafe to inhabit.
The scope of it all is not lost on Rascon.
"It's a lot you know?" he said. "You can't come back to your own house. It's a big loss."
Lorraine Ortega's Senter Road apartment had just couple of inches inside; she will lose her carpeting and need to repaint.
"I had to stay in a motel last night and I'm just coming home right now," she said. "It was scary. This was very scary."
Meanwhile, Jean-Marie White was creating a to-do list in her mind as to what it will take to get her home back to normal.
"We'll be back tomorrow and come back with power washing tools and clean up the backyard," she said. "The water is receding very quickly. I think there is about an inch of water left in the basement. And I think that by tomorrow that water will be gone in the backyard."
The overnight shelters operated by the Red Cross and the city's Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services that early Thursday morning were housing 144 people at James Lick High School and 10 people at Evergreen Valley High School will have to move before students return to school on Monday.
City officials will announce the location of the new shelters "well before Monday," Sykes said. Pets should be taken to the San Jose Animal Shelter at 2750 Monterey Road.
Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone urged property owners who may have suffered $10,000 or more in flood damage to read about the calamity property tax relief program and download the claim form at sccassessor.org.
A local assistance center with booths offering resources from the city, the county, the Red Cross and other agencies to residents and businesses affected by the flooding will open at the Shirakawa Community Center at 2072 Lucretia Ave. on Saturday, Sykes said.
Shirakawa and Mayfair community centers stopped serving as evacuation centers Wednesday evening due to lack of need.
City officials are "exploring every opportunity" for state and federal relief funding, Sykes said, estimating the damage at millions of dollars.
Items like clothing are not needed, but financial donations can be made to the Red Cross at redcross.org/donate/donation or the Silicon Valley Community Foundation at sanjosemayor.org, city officials said.
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