San Francisquito Creek Ready for Rain

The Santa Clara Valley Water District didn’t wait for the forecast of back-to-back-to-back storms to prepare for a gulley-washer. 

The district has been working for years to mitigate flood dangers on San Francisquito Creek following a devastating flood in February 1998 that damaged homes, businesses and government buildings, flooded the airport and municipal golf course, and turned the diamond lane of 101 into a submarine lane.

Creek Cam

Marty Grimes, Supervising Program Administrator for the Water District’s Communications Unit, summarized preparations taken by the district:

• We have trucks on their way to drop off loads of sands and sand bags by our Palo Alto sandbag site (1925 Embarcadero Road, adjacent to the Palo Alto Air Terminal). Editor’s Note: the sand and sandbags have been dropped off.
• Our staff went through their normal routine of attending to hot spots and potential choke points for inspection and removal of debris in preparation for this season.
• Our staff performed upland weed abatement for fire control and maintenance access from upstream of Highway 101 to the Palo Alto Airport.
• We have a Flood Information Team (FIT) that is dispatched to inspect local creeks as storms come in.
• Residents can watch the storm drains in their own neighborhood. If a storm drain is blocked or residents see any street flooding, they can call the City of Palo Alto Public Works Department at (650) 329-2413.
• We have more flood safety tips at:  http://www.valleywater.org/Services/FloodSafetyTips.aspx

Also on Palo Alto Patch:

Got Sandbags? Maybe You Should

Palo Alto Utilities Prepared for Storms

Stanford: Climate Change Impacts Economy

Share Your Storm Photos

Palo Alto Patch Business Directory

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