City Readies for El Niño

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Less than an inch of rain fell this week in an unusual September storm, but residents are bracing for more.
Less than an inch of rain fell this week in an unusual September storm, but residents are bracing for more.Photo by Jody Tiongco.

A downpour earlier this week let loose a few rocks and slick roads resulted in an overturned car, but city staff are feverishly preparing for far worse. Consensus among forecasters predict an El Niño, and this iteration of the weather condition could be one of the strongest in years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The El Niño event, which occurs in cycles every three to seven years, can bring greater than average precipitation. Laguna residents are no strangers to flooding, having endured El Niño -bred disasters in 2010 and 1997. Both wreaked damage throughout the city, damaging homes, businesses and public facilities.

“Given the reported high chances of a pending El Niño event this fall/winter, a significant amount of rain should be expected. It is important for property owners to be prepared for these events,” Gregory Pfost, the city’s community development department director, cautioned in a statement last month.

In trying to address the pending danger, the city manager recently detailed steps the city staff is taking to protect property, but also to engage residents on how they can best prepare.

“At this point, I would say the city is on track in terms of key preparedness efforts,” said Deputy City Manager Ben Siegel. “These include sending letters to property owners regarding terrace drains, reviewing department policies and protocols, inspecting water-response equipment and securing contracts for disaster cleanup and response.”

City staff will train next month for a disaster in an exercise that simulates the aftermath of torrential rains. They will activate the emergency operations center and key staff from various departments will report in, Siegel said. Additional preparations include the city holding a storm preparedness workshop on Nov. 5

Residents are also expected to take part in safeguarding their property to avert potential damage. The hillside communities are at the greatest risk, and homes adjacent to properties that have terrace drains can be especially vulnerable.

“Terrace drains, also called a ‘V’ ditch, is made of gunite or concrete and typically crosses several different properties before its water enters a city-maintained drainage facility,” said Pfost. Over time the integrity of these drains can be severely compromised, said Larry Fanning, president of G3SoilWorks Inc., a Costa Mesa firm. “The real concern is that property owners believe they are doing the proper maintenance, but really don’t understand why are they doing it, and what the ramifications are if maintenance is not done correctly,” he said.

The issue with the terrace drains is “all surface drainage designs assume, and facilities require, proper maintenance to function correctly,” said Kevin Trigg, chief engineering geologist at Geofirm, a Laguna Beach-based company. “Blockages on terraces can create overflows, which concentrate the water into one area of a slope. Concentrated flow on a slope exacerbates erosion. Cracked and broken gunite on terraces can cause seepage and leaks. These leaks typically expand and also concentrate flows, undermine the drain, and compound erosion,” said Trigg.

“It is the responsibility of the homeowner to make sure those drains are free of debris, are maintained and repaired if necessary,” said Pfost, who said his department sent letters to 250 property owners with drains on their property to inform them of their responsibility.

“The problem though, and I have worked on hundreds of cases with terrace drains, is that the owner thought they were well maintained, but were not and ultimately cause serious problems,” said Fanning.

Letters aren’t enough, said John Albritton, president of Laguna Canyon Property Owners. His property includes 90 feet on Laguna Creek, which was flooded in 2010. A resident since 1989, he said lack of a drainage channel on Laguna Canyon Road makes properties all along the roadway vulnerable.

“It is also important for the city to remove debris upstream, because so much of that material flows down and impacts us,” he said.

In many ways, the preparations are a race against time. “We are still working out how best to serve our neighborhoods,” said Penelope Milne, president of Canyon Alliance of Neighborhoods Defense Organization, which has invited a city representative to its September meeting. “We’ll plan more specifically from there,” she said.

Perhaps the biggest concern is a potential repeat of flooding of the downtown, where streets on Ocean, Forest and Broadway were inundated with mud and storm runoff in 2010. Some 180 businesses are located within the Laguna Beach flood plain, and many are required to have floodgates, Pfost said. “We are conducting outreach to ensure that those businesses are in compliance and have the floodgates,” he said.

Whole Foods, located on Broadway Street, is ready for the coming potential water flows. “We have worked with the city on utilizing the floodgates, and we have several key employees, along with myself that can place them if flooding occurs,” said Rich Dinan, store manager.

Concern stems from the lack of improvements to the drainage system, overtaxed by the 2010 deluge. Public Works Director Steve May said the flood channel that runs to the ocean between Ocean and Broadway shrinks in size at Beach Street, with half the capacity of the channel upstream. “When there is very heavy rainfall in Laguna Canyon, the excess water jumps out at Beach Street and runs down Broadway, Ocean, and Forest. That situation might be improved in about five years,” he said.

 

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