Dozens rescued as heavy rain inundates San Jose neighborhood
Victims treated for tainted floodwaters
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Rescuers chest-deep in water steered boats full of people, some with babies and pets, on Tuesday from a San Jose neighborhood inundated by water from an overflowing creek.
At least 225 residents were taken to dry land and rinsed with soap and water to prevent them from being sickened by floodwaters that had traveled through engine fuel, garbage, debris and over sewer lines, San Jose Fire Capt. Mitch Matlow said.
Residents went door-to-door searching for people who needed to leave the neighborhood and only residents who could prove they had been cleaned of the floodwaters were allowed to board buses to shelters.
“This is like once-in-a-lifetime,” said Bobby Lee, 15, of the water around him.
He was rescued with his brother and parents, who took clothes, electronics and some photos from their home in a neighborhood that ended up littered with submerged cars.
Earlier Tuesday, firefighters rescued five people stranded by flooding at a homeless camp along the same creek in San Jose.
Firefighters went door-to-door to tell residents to get out of their homes because the city does not have sirens or another emergency warning system, San Jose spokesman David Vossbrink said.
The rains were the latest produced by a series of storms generated by so-called atmospheric rivers that dump massive quantities of Pacific Ocean water on California after carrying it aloft from as far away as Hawaii.
The latest downpours swelled waterways to flood levels and left about half the state under flood, wind and snow advisories.
In another area of San Jose, the fire department was called to Coyote Creek amid reports of as many as 40 people being stranded at a homeless encampment.
That number turned out to be inaccurate and five people were located and rescued, fire Capt. Mitch Matlow said.
The current storm system began to weaken Tuesday after dumping more than a half-inch of rain in the San Joaquin Valley and over an inch in San Francisco, the National Weather Service reported.