14,000 are evacuated; mayor admits failures in order

The mayor of San Jose acknowledged that the city failed to properly notify residents to evacuate during a flood emergency early Wednesday when some people said they got their first notice with a knock on their door from a firefighter.

City officials ordered more than 14,000 residents to leave their homes as water from swollen Coyote Creek flooded homes and temporarily shut down a portion of a major freeway.

“If the first time a resident is aware that they need to get out of their home is when they see a firefighter in a boat, that’s a failure,” Mayor Sam Liccardo said at a news conference.

“We are assessing what happened in that failure.”

Liccardo declined to go into detail, saying there would be time for reflection after the emergency was over.

Another 22,000 people near the creek were encouraged but not required to evacuate.