BARRON PARK: Another flood averted

A pond behind the Gunn High School campus clogged with storm debris Friday afternoon, threatening to overflow and flood a portion of Barron Park.

About 10 members of the emergency response unit of an Explorer scout troop, all Gunn High students, and Barron Park residents came to the rescue.

The Explorers, an arm of the Boy Scouts, and the residents used a neighbor's boat to float out to the middle of the pond and clear the debris blocking the concrete drainage grate where water flows down a culvert and into Barron Creek.

The pond, about eight feet deep, is located behind the high school's swimming pool. It came within about six inches of going over, said Will Beckett, president of the Barron Park Association, who was on the scene.

If the pond had spilled, the water would have flowed onto the school playing fields and run down and flooded properties along Los Robles Avenue and El Cerrito Road, he said.

"This is the second time this year we've averted a disaster," said Beckett. In January, a downed telephone pole in Barron Creek caused debris to pile up underneath a bridge and the creek to rise within inches of spilling its banks before the pole was hurriedly removed.

Crews from the Santa Clara Valley Water District, which owns the pond, and the Palo Alto Public Works Department arrived on the scene to help, Beckett said. Initially, a water district official ordered the residents and students out of the pond, he said, but then decided to wait until after they had cleared the drain, since the water district didn't have a boat.

"I don't know how imminent it was (to causing flooding)," Public Works engineer Joe Teresi said, "but it was a good effort on the part of the neighborhood and the Explorer scouts to take care of it."

Doug Graham, who coordinated the flood watch for the Barron Park Association, said Barron Creek was on the verge of flooding all day Friday, but did not get quite as high as it did in January. The creek peaked just below six feet. Flood stage is 6 1/2 feet, he said.

Matadero Creek, however, came within six inches of spilling its banks, closer than it did in January, Beckett said.

In 1983, flooding caused more than a million dollars in damage to homes in Barron Park and businesses on El Camino Real, recalled Graham.

"One more winter and we won't have to worry about this anymore," he said. He referred to a $5 million flood control project the water district is currently building to contain excess flows from Barron and Matadero creeks.

Other than some minor localized flooding, the neighborhood escaped unscathed, Graham said. Just in case, though, the city provided do-it-yourself sandbags at Hoover Elementary School.1 n