The Valley Water board member who represents Saratoga is urging West Valley residents to get ready for flooding now, saying the strong El Niño forecast for this winter raises the odds of repeated heavy rain across Santa Clara County.
Nai Hsueh, whose District 5 seat covers Saratoga, Cupertino and Sunnyvale, laid out her case in a column published Friday by the Mercury News. During El Niño years, she wrote, warmer water in the eastern tropical Pacific feeds more moisture and stronger storms into the region, and when a creek or reservoir spills over, people may have only minutes to respond.
Most creeks are not the district's
One point in the column bears on many hillside and creekside properties: Valley Water owns, or has rights to maintain, roughly 350 miles out of more than 800 miles of creek running through the county's urban valley floor, Hsueh wrote. The rest belong to private property owners and other public agencies.
The district released two guides on Oct. 6 aimed at people who live along creeks. A Creek Maintenance FAQ explains that no single agency is responsible for every creek in the county; who handles upkeep can depend on who owns the land, whether Valley Water holds land rights or an easement there, and whether the stretch falls within a flood protection project.
A separate Flood Readiness Guide for Creekside Property Owners lists things to do ahead of, during and after flooding, from clearing gutters and downspouts to protecting low openings and planning an evacuation route. The district also points owners to its Creekside Neighbor Rebate Program.
What Hsueh recommends
- Look up your address at valleywater.org/floodready to see whether it falls in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area, the zones with the highest risk.
- Buy flood insurance, which standard homeowners and renters policies do not include. Hsueh noted most policies take 30 days to start.
- Sign up every household member for emergency alerts at AlertSCC.org.
- Make a household plan and find the nearest free sandbag site before storms arrive. Valley Water's flood-ready page includes an interactive map of sandbag locations.