Send this story Print this story

Adjust text size

Uploaded: Tuesday, December 25, 2012, 11:57 AM                                             

Dozens return home after East Palo Alto flooding
Creek threatened to jump banks at Chaucer and Pope

Posted by jerry99, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Dec 26, 2012 at 12:10 pm

After wasting taxpayer money for more than 10 years I can't understand how San Francisquito creek still floods.

Posted by Lisa, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Dec 26, 2012 at 12:26 pm

Chaucer Bridge is a man-made mistake - more of a dam than a bridge.

Emails and voice mails from the City - warning that flooding is imminent and to get sandbags - are NOT helpful. We already know that.

Long overdue for a fix. City knows there is a problem, and has failed to act.

Posted by Hmmm, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Dec 26, 2012 at 4:58 pm

How sad that no comments show sympathy for those evacuated. There were actually hundreds of people who left. They were luckily able to return late at night or the next morning & there were just a few who flooded. But still, during a busy holiday season that is supposed to bring joy, how lousy that they had to leave the warmh of their homes & seek shelter elsewhere!

The lack of planning by authorities for everyone near the creek, in ALL of the involved cities, is inexcusable. Some emergency personnel were also given the wrong info late Sun eve. We are *livid* about this avoidable situation that severely stressed out hundreds of people, plus the lack of info & lack of assistance here on the west side. All of the involved authorities should be truly ashamed.

Some of the east side EPA residents interviewed on TV were really cool about what happened - I wish I felt the same way.

Posted by Kathy D., a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Dec 26, 2012 at 5:28 pm

My memory of the 1998 flood surged strongly forward this past week as the water under the Chaucer Street Bridge reached flood stage. THIS time we had sandbags in place but no real confidence that they would prevent the disaster of 15 years ago. Luckily for us it didn't flood but other areas nearby did.

When the last flood struck we were caught off guard to say the least. When we heard fire engines on University Ave. in the middle of the night, I looked out the window to see water surging down the Avenue in waves so high one could have white water rafted down it. The firemen urged us to evacuate but my daughter and I decided that we wanted to see how much we could save by moving contents of the downstairs upstairs. Four+ hours later we ran out of adrenaline and strength and fell asleep. The house was spared, but we lost a wall, and three cars plus our yard and garage were flooded - leaving two feet of creek bed sludge and disgusting debris behind. This was a gigantic nightmare we NEVER want to experience again and shouldn't have to!

The cities of Menlo Park and Palo Alto, and unincorporated East Palo Alto plus the counties of Santa Clara forand San Mateo have had 15 years to deal with and fix the causes of this flooding. The time to act is way past due! A good start would be to raise the height of the flat Chaucer Street Bridge to allow creek water to flow freely. I know the latter is only part of the problem, but one has to start somewhere!

Posted by village fool, a resident of another community, on Dec 26, 2012 at 10:26 pm

@Hmmm - comments of sympathy towards EPA residents? really???

Comments about EPA are very predictable when Tinsley can be mentioned, brought into the discussion - sympathy for "hardship" of non EPA.

Seems that some lessons were learned from the 1988 flood. By the end of the day - only EPA residents had to evacuate during the Holidays.

I'm so sorry.

Posted by Sharon, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Dec 27, 2012 at 12:27 am

[Post removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]

Posted by Hmmm, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Dec 28, 2012 at 5:09 pm

Thank you, Village Fool. One of the families whose house flooded this year & 15 years ago have a member who's fighting cancer. They have a matter-of-fact attitude about the flooding, knowing that w/a roof over their heads & food on the table that they're really okay. I found their attitude impressive & touching, a stark contrast to Sharon's petty, nasty & poorly informed attitude.

Even Kathy's comments were a little shocking - all about her experience 15 years ago, not a smidgen of expressed sympathy for what happened a few days ago & may happen again this season. The big flood was memorable, so I understand the reminiscences & of course, all of the concerns. What's disturbing is the utter lack of sympathy for those affected who don't live in PA, to the point that some of the comments in this thread are *still* about Chaucer, even though there are other threads about it. Once again, something that so many of us have in common - a the possibility of being flooded out, concerns about the creek, climate change & lack of enough help from authorities - but instead of empathy for others affected, it's so PA-centric - ugh.

Posted by village fool, a resident of another community, on Dec 29, 2012 at 2:26 pm

@Hmmm - Unfortunately, lack of empathy/ PA-centrism are clear all year long, including the Holidays (regardless of specific Holidays one celebrates). Those manifesting the above do not see this culture/atmosphere impacts all - including PA kids.