I'm late in writing this as we’ve been dealing with the effects of the incredible amount of rain we’ve seen…and it continues. While we are all happy to see rain (especially this early in the season), it has also had some serious impacts to our community. The rain amounts were largely underestimated and have been fairly historic in some areas. Generally we’ve seen 3 to 8 inches of rain across the Bay Area, however in some places, such as Mt. Tamalpais, have seen even more...almost 14 inches so far.

 

Police, Public Works and Fire Departments have been working yesterday and most of the night on the areas that regularly flood. The images they have shared with me of the amount of water we have seen are remarkable. Additionally, the Fire Department and our Facilities team responded to flooding at the Library and worked with the Library team to mitigate some flooding there. They were there late last night mitigating long-term impacts. The Library will be open today thanks to the outstanding work of our staff.

 

Public Works staff responded to a failing wastewater lift station in the Industrial Park, which was overwhelmed by runoff. Some quick work by Public Works, and with the assistance from a late-night call to Jimmy Ponder, owner of Ponder Environmental, who brought in several resources allowing us to pump into his tanker trucks, we were able to reduce the pressure on the system and buy enough time for the flow to dissipate without completely overwhelming the lift station.

 

Police staff identified and shut down impacted roadways throughout the day. They also acted as scouts looking for any problem areas. Police vehicles are equipped with collapsible rakes which allows them to identify and clear small storm drain blockages before they become larger problems. 

 

While we desperately needed this water and should see impacts to important reservoirs that help supply Benicia with water and, perhaps more importantly, to our snow pack in the Sierras. I will provide more updates on that issue as I get more data. Our reservoir, which is an important part of the City’s water supply, is being carefully monitored and levels controlled by staff. At approximately 10 p.m. Sunday night, data began to indicate that the inflow of runoff was possibly going to reach the spillway and initiate an uncontrolled release, despite having made substantial room for that runoff over preceding days. We initiated a partial activation of our Emergency Operations Center, bringing in our Fire Chief, Police Chief, Public Works Director, Deputy Public Works Director (Utilities) and Deputy City Manager. Our Public Works team worked the problem and the decision was made to open the release valve to 100%. Police and Fire personnel began warning potential businesses that could be impacted downstream. With the controlled release, the hazard was ultimately mitigated. Previous work on Sulphur Springs Creek help ensure no flooding occurred. I’m very proud of the work of our staff. A great deal of the success of this operation is due to the outstanding work done over the last few years by Public Works to ensure proper and accurate measurement of Lake Herman water levels and inflow/outflow that were put in place, as well as mitigation to the Sulphur Springs Creek bed to ensure proper flow. As I’m sure you can imagine it is a delicate balance to release enough water in a controlled manner to prevent the dam from being overtopped, while at the same time ensuring we don’t release more than will be replaced by runoff. Our Public Works staff very smartly switched to reservoir water for our largest customer recently. This allowed us to preserve millions of gallons of our purchased supplies of water for later use. 

 

I know many people suffered damage from the rain (I now have two new holes in my living room ceiling due to roof leaks). My sincere best wishes to our community members impacted by this storm. Staff will continue to work to mitigate community impacts. I would like to thank the staff who spent yesterday, in some very difficult conditions, working to make this community safe.

Thank you for your interest in the City of Benicia This Week!