{"id":233197,"date":"2015-11-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/worrying-about-el-nino-flooding\/"},"modified":"2015-11-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T08:00:00","slug":"worrying-about-el-nino-flooding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/worrying-about-el-nino-flooding\/","title":{"rendered":"Worrying about El Ni\u00f1o flooding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Councilmembers seek \u2018state\u00a0of emergency\u2019 declaration<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Dave Schwab<\/p>\n

San Diego City Councilmembers David Alvarez and Scott Sherman have called upon the city to declare a state of emergency \u2014 and take whatever action is necessary \u2014 to prepare for anticipated wetter-than-normal El Ni\u00f1o<\/em> conditions by immediately clearing debris from high-risk flood channels.<\/p>\n

\u201cScientists at Scripps [Institution of Oceanography] say there is at least a 95 percent chance that El Ni\u00f1o<\/em> weather conditions will hit San Diego this winter,\u201d said David Alvarez, whose District 8 includes Barrio Logan, Grant Hill, Logan Heights, Nestor, Sherman Heights and Stockton. \u201cThe upcoming El Ni\u00f1o<\/em> storm season has the potential to be one of the strongest on record, with the potential for a devastating wave of flash floods and really hazardous conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThree years ago when I came to office, one of the first things that hit my desk was about flooding problems in Grantville and Mission Valley that we have on a regular basis because the concrete-lined storm channels haven\u2019t been cleaned,\u201d said Sherman, whose District 7 includes Allied Gardens, Del Cerro, Grantville, Mission Valley and San Carlos. \u201cIt\u2019s a daunting task to try and get permission to clean out those channels, because they\u2019re considered wetlands, so you have to go out and buy mitigation property to offset the debris that\u2019s going to be removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rick<\/a>
Rick Engineering Co. has identified the worst channels in San Diego that are prone to flooding.
(Photo by Dave Schwab)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ed Witt, a Mission Valley business owner whose auto lot historically floods, said he has suffered through two other El Ni\u00f1o<\/em> storms in 1997-98 and 2010. \u201cThey really were quite devastating for our area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Witt expressed frustration with government’s inability to take preventative action to prepare for storms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have just a few weeks to prepare for what could be really a devastating occurrence for the citizens and taxpayers of San Diego,\u201d Witt said. \u201cI really applaud Councilman Alvarez’s effort to declare a state of emergency. That’s imperative that the government get involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Witt characterized the most recent storm in San Diego that caused widespread flooding as \u201ca precursor, a preview of what is to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s urgent for the city, county and state to bolt down San Diego before it rises or floods to the sea,\u201d Witt added.<\/p>\n

The San Diego River Park Foundation expressed concern about the impact of flooding on homeless encampments in Mission Valley.<\/p>\n

“The San Diego River Park Foundation\u00a0is alarmed that the homeless who camp in the river basin may drown when the river suddenly rises in a severe rainstorm,” said Rob Hutsel, executive director and co-founder of the nonprofit dedicated to creating a San Diego River Park system from the mountains to the ocean.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith some estimates of more than 10 percent of the city of San Diego’s unsheltered population living along the San Diego River, we are deeply concerned for their welfare, especially with predictions of flooding in the coming weeks and months.\u00a0In October 2015, our organization documented 23 encampments just in Mission Valley. All of these were in areas that would\u00a0most likely be\u00a0underwater during flooding conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noting homeless encampments can range from one to 10 or more people, Hutsel said,\u00a0\u201cEach is\u00a0at risk.\u00a0Before the rains hit is the time to increase outreach to these people to offer assistance so they\u00a0move out of harm’s way\u00a0\u2026 we remain concerned for the welfare of those that, for whatever reason, are living along the San Diego River.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alvarez said the city will hear more accounts like Witt’s of damaging flooding throughout the winter rainy season, \u201cif we don’t do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re all frustrated, including Councilman Sherman and myself, who represent particular communities that get severely impacted when there is flooding,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cThat’s why we’re calling for action. We have to do something. We can’t just continue to say what we’ve done is good enough \u2014 because it isn’t.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a list furnished by Alvarez, five of the 10 most at-risk flood channels in the city are located in communities served by San Diego Uptown News and Mission Valley News. They are:<\/p>\n

\u2014 Engineer Road in Kearny Mesa<\/p>\n

\u2014 Washington Street in Hillcrest and Little Italy<\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0Section Four of Auburn Creek in City Heights<\/p>\n

\u2014 Chollas Creek in the College Area<\/p>\n

\u2014 Red River Drive and Conestoga Drive in Allied Gardens<\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1o<\/em> \u2014 \u201cThe Christ Child\u201d in Spanish referring to its impact during Christmas in South America \u2014 is a naturally occurring, periodic warmer-colder ocean temperature cycle happening every two to seven years and lasting an average of nine months to two years, that brings more-than-normal rainfall to the West Coast including San Diego.<\/p>\n

CBS News 8 weatherman Shawn Styles said an El Ni\u00f1o<\/em> isn’t a guarantee of more rain but rather \u201cincreases your odds for having elevated rainfall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he concurred that there’s a strong likelihood of an El Ni\u00f1o<\/em> this winter, Styles said, \u201cBased on elevated sea surface temperatures and the strength and extent of it \u2026 we will, if the jet stream acts like it appears it will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Styles said there is a new \u201celement\u201d that could influence the impact of an El Ni\u00f1o<\/em> in unpredictable ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other weather phenomenon is called the blob,\u201d Styles said. \u201cThat is another thing that’s never happened in conjunction with an El Ni\u00f1o<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Styles said the blob, which originated on the southern edge of the Gulf of Alaska, has \u201cdrifted south and that’s why our ocean water temperature is still near 70 degrees.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to asking for a declaration of a state of emergency, Alvarez also called upon the city to \u201cincrease preventative maintenance activity in every storm drain and every flood channel immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the city to work with the Regional Water Quality Control Board to expedite permits needed to do the maintenance work on the highest-risk flood channels,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201c\u201cSpecifically, we’re going to request a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to give them the authority to perform all the maintenance work that is needed on the remaining high-risk channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noting that Mayor Kevin Faulconer has \u201cprioritized cleaning out the different flood channels,\u201d Sherman said those channels in his council district that were cleaned out recently showed marked improvement in water flow.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can tell the difference,\u201d Sherman said. \u201cThere was no flooding, and the waters were moving smoothly.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Sherman warned there are many other flood-prone spots in the city to be addressed. \u201cWe need to get the workers out in the trenches and get them cleaned,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s up to us to make sure there’s litigation in place so we can prepare for what’s coming. We want everybody to know that we’re doing everything we can for what could be a very large flood season coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0Dave Schwab puede ser contactado en\u00a0<\/em>dschwabie@journalist.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Councilmembers seek \u2018state\u00a0of emergency\u2019 declaration By Dave Schwab San Diego City Councilmembers David Alvarez and Scott Sherman have called upon the city to declare a state of emergency \u2014 and take whatever action is necessary \u2014 to prepare for anticipated wetter-than-normal El Ni\u00f1o conditions by immediately clearing debris from high-risk flood channels.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":228385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11557","_seopress_titles_title":"Worrying about El Ni\u00f1o flooding","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11557,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-mission-valley-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}