The Willow Glen Resident

Residents prepare for El Niño

Fiscalini set to host community meeting

By Cecily Barnes

In preparation for the ominous El Niño winter, District 6 Councilmember Frank Fiscalini is hosting a community flood-control meeting that will answer questions and inform residents about weather dangers and emergency management.

"We are just getting inundated with phone calls from residents who are concerned with El Niño," said Fiscalini's aide Michelle McGurk. "This will give residents a forum to speak directly with people from the water district and PG&E."

By providing residents with flood-prevention information, the water district and Frank Fiscalini's office hope to prevent the situation Willow Glen faced in the winter of 1995, when nearly 200 homes were flooded by more than four inches of water. The water district is currently working to secure funds for the Upper Guadalupe River Flood Control Project. Until then, Willow Glen residents will have to proactively prevent flooding during heavy storms.

"Until funding can be found and a plan agreed upon, the residents are going to be susceptible to flooding," said Teddy Morse, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Valley Water District. "The only thing we can do is work with them on creek cleanup and citizens groups."

Residents affected by the 1995 storms have already learned the importance of sandbagging and other prevention techniques. During those storms, dozens of people on Minnesota and Alma avenues and Almaden Road were advised to evacuate, and portions of roads were temporarily closed to traffic. People whose property was damaged say they fear the same will happen this winter, and that it could be even worse.

"In '95 I had six feet of water in the back yard; I had my own lake back there," said Dawson Avenue homeowner Ron Young. "The river is right there, and with El Niño coming, who isn't worried?"

According to the Santa Clara Valley Water District, residents everywhere are very concerned. So much so that the water district has set up an El Niño task force that will hold community meetings across the county and set up information booths in large shopping centers.

"We're setting up a display area in shopping centers with information that shows the different areas of the county susceptible to flooding, where to get sandbags and how to use them," the water district's Morse said. "We'll also have experts there that can answer questions."

Willow Glen residents can save themselves a trip to the shopping mall, however, by attending the Nov. 12 meeting hosted by Fiscalini. Representatives from they city's streets and traffic and public works departments will attend, along with personnel from the Santa Clara Valley Water District and PG&E. Councilmember Fiscalini will also speak to those assembled about how they can work together as a community.

"Frank is going to be talking about the different things neighborhoods and individual blocks can do to work together and help each other out, should we be faced with a flooding or emergency situation," McGurk said. "If neighbors need assistance with sandbagging or other types of efforts, we'll try to match them up with volunteer groups. They could call me, and we could try to help out."

The water district will discuss sandbagging, emergency response and other prevention techniques. PG&E will discuss the potential dangers from gas and electricity, as well as how to prepare for power outages.

"With this type of scenario, it's very important for people to plan ahead, and that's what we want them to do so they can have what they need to be prepared for an emergency," McGurk said.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m., Nov. 12, at the Elks Club at 444 W. Alma Ave.

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