Recovery mode
Tuolumne County storm damages rise to $18.2M
Tuolumne County officials are hopeful that the county will still be added to a federal disaster declaration for California’s recent severe storms, with damages to local public entities now totaling more than $18 million.
Dore Bietz, coordinator of the county Office of Emergency Services, said officials from CALOES and the Federal Emergency Management Agency were in the county this week reviewing and documenting damages.
“(We’re) pretty confident that we hit our threshold” for being added to FEMA’S major disaster declaration for public assistance, Bietz said on Friday. “We’re at approximately $18.2 million in damages to public entities in Tuolumne County.”
The numbers include not only damage to county-owned property and infrastructure, but also that of agencies like City of Sonora, Tuolumne Utilities District, Groveland and Twain Harte community services districts, Don Pedro Reservoir, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, and schools.
Don Pedro Reservoir, which is owned and operated by Turlock Irrigation District, was one of the areas hardest hit by the recent storms.
Bietz said a massive amount of water from the storms funneled large amounts of wood and other debris into the reservoir that will ultimately have to be removed, with the current cost to do so estimated at $4 million.
“It happens occasionally, but not this amount,” she said. “It’s probably the biggest amount they’ve seen in quite awhile.”
Constance Anderson, spokeswoman for TID, said there was no actual damage to the reservoir or surrounding areas.
Anderson said the Moccasin Point boat launch is currently closed while TID’S Don Pedro Recreation Agency works through removing the debris. The campground and shoreline remain open for fishing and recreation, she added.
On Tuesday, the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors will consider a request from Bietz and Public Works Director Kim Macfarlane to continue the local state of emergency enacted on Jan. 9 in response to the storms.
A staff report released publicly with the meeting agenda stated that three roads in the county remained closed as of Thursday due to storm damage: Marshes Flat Road at First and Second Creek, a portion of Wards Ferry Road, and Red Hills Road.
Emergency work
was also contracted for landslide removal on Buchanan Road in Tuolumne and at Marshes Flat Road and Kelly Grade above Highway 49 near Moccasin, as well as flood mitigation work at Parrotts Ferry and Sawmill Flat roads.
The emergency repairs to county roads that had been made as of Jan. 19 were estimated at more than $1.7 million, according to the report.
Being added to the FEMA major disaster declaration for public assistance would help pay for some of the costs to the county and other local public entities from storm damage, though it won’t provide relief for private individuals or businesses who suffered losses.
Bietz said she did not anticipate the county will meet FEMA’S threshold for individual assistance, which requires at least 25 homes or businesses sustaining major damage to at least 40% of the structure.