City satisfied with storm response

Industrial Avenue businesses call for more flood control|

Even as the rains came down again on Tuesday, at times in torrential sheets, local officials were busy assessing how Petaluma fared in last week’s winter storm, and, while flood control issues persist, they say the city handled the deluge of water as well as can be expected.

“The thing that needs to be emphasized is that our community has always flooded, that when we get heavy rain events like last week, we’re going to see flooding ,” said Dan St. John, the city’s public works director. “That is how the geography responds to high water. We still have done much and want to do more to continue to mitigate the problems .”

City officials met Tuesday morning in part at the request of the city council to give a report on the storm which dumped more than a foot of rain on the region in about 24 hours. While they stressed they were still gathering information, they said they were pleased with how staff responded to the crisis.

Although there were problems around the city, including flooded roads and sewage bubbling out of manhole covers, city officials said very little of what happened was unexpected.

“The flood plain project did its job ,” St. John said. “The Payran neighborhood did not flood. Downtown was protected. We’re not saying everything was perfect, but it was mostly positive .”

St. John and City Manager John Brown said city staff spends ample time preparing for storms like the one that struck last week, including year-round efforts to clear drainage routes throughout the city. That work was supplemented by a flurry of activity in the days leading up to the storm, which was forecast to be the worst to hit the region in years.

Clearing debris from drainage screens, inlets and culverts is critical in ensuring water flows freely as streams and lakes fill up in heavy rain.

One of the worst areas hit was Auto Center Drive, where Industrial Avenue was closed due to flood waters that trapped people at some of the auto dealerships in the area. Seven people were rescued by emergency officials on Thursday afternoon and Industrial remained closed into Friday morning from Bob Benson Honda south to the Auto Center Drive area due to the flooding. Business owners in the area have complained to the city about the flooding, which they say has gotten worse since efforts were made to keep flooding out of the Payran neighborhood.

“I’m not faulting the folks in Payran, but it has pushed the water to us,” said Lee Fishman of Fishman Supply, adding that the only thing that prevented his building from flooding for the second time since 2008 was the high tide mark that day. “If the tide was higher, I am very confident we would have been cleaning out the building.”

City officials dispute Fishman’s claims, saying they take the flooding throughout the city seriously and continue to work on fixes. A combination of factors, including two nearby creeks which flow through county-owned and private property, contribute to the Industrial Avenue flooding and solutions designed to help, including detention ponds, are in the works, spearheaded by county officials.

Fishman’s parking lot was one of several that completely flooded during the storm. St. John said those lots, which are in the 100-year flood plain, are designed to take on water in storms, much like detention ponds.

“We know there’s going to be water there and some of those are designed to flood,” 'he said. “What we did hear is that within city limits, there was essentially no buildings that flooded. That’s a credit to the system of controls, it’s a credit to staff and the work they did and also to some of the landlords who installed flood barriers and were able to activate them.”

Brown said efforts were made to move residents out of the Leisure Lake Mobile Home Park midday on Dec. 11, when it became apparent that Stony Point Road had started to flood near the Petaluma Boulevard intersection. While the park itself wasn’t flooded, the pattern of flooding would have all but trapped residents at home, so city officials deployed buses to offer residents voluntary evacuation to the Petaluma Community Center, where the city operated an emergency shelter.

But no one took the city up on its offer. The shelter, which remained open until 10 p.m. that day, was empty throughout the storm, Brown said.

There were roughly eight instances around the city where sewage bubbled up out of manhole covers, into streets, and eventually washed away into local rivers and streams, St. John said. The sewage leaks into pipes from various sources and is part of a seven-fold increase in the amount of water flow that pours through the city’s wastewater treatment facility during significant rain storms. St. John said the treatment facility is designed to handle the increase. And while the city takes the problem seriously, he said the net amount of sewage dumping into area waterways was small.

“We have a tremendous amount of storm water that enters our sanitary sewage system,” he said. “While there is certainly an ‘ick’ factor and it’s a big challenge, but it’s not at all unique in the Bay Area. Nor do we believe it poses any significant health hazards.”

While St. John said the city would continue to evaluate its flood control efforts, make adjustments and seek more solutions, he added there was only so much they could do.

“In the end, sometimes mother nature wins,” he said. “We continue to fight and fight hard but there are just some natural features that are not able to handle the kind of storms we’ve had the last two weeks.”

An emergency operations center had been set up Wednesday at the Petaluma Police Department in anticipation of the storm and was activated early on the morning of Dec. 11 before shutting down at 5 p.m. City offices were open and many employees made their way into work, manned the emergency center or were out in the field doing repairs, assessing damage and making sure drains were kept clear. St. John said he spent much of the day out in the field himself.

“City staff did a really great job and our flood controls prevented real problems for sure,” said Gabe Kearney, city council member and vice mayor, adding he was anxious to see the staff’s report on how the city handled the storms. “I think it’s safe to say that without the projects completed over the last few years, we would have had a lot more problems.”

Schools were closed throughout the city, but some parents expressed anger that the Petaluma City Schools District waited until the morning of Dec. 11 to cancel classes. Superintendent Steve Bolman said it took him a while to come to the decision, but several factors, including worsening weather conditions and a power outage at Penngrove Elementary, convinced him to change course and cancel classes. But, in part due to a technical glitch with the automated phone system, word didn’t get out to families and faculty until just after 8 a.m., after many students and teachers had already left for school.

The late notice rankled students, their parents and some teachers, who complained to the district and via social media. Petaluma was one of several school districts around the county that drew criticism for not announcing closures until Thursday morning. St. Vincent de Paul and Harvest Christian were among the schools that announced Wednesday night that they would be closed on Thursday.

After a day of give-and-take between parents, teachers and school officials, the Petaluma City Schools District announced its schools would stay closed last Friday as well.

(Contact Elizabeth M. Cosin at elizabeth.cosin@arguscourier.com)

ONLINE: See a gallery of storm images taken by photographer Scott Manchester, and a gallery of reader submitted photos online at petaluma360.com

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