1st Phase of Flood Channel Completed

SANTA PAULA —  It was almost exactly one year ago that some 2,000 residents of this city grabbed what possessions they could and headed for higher ground.

After several days of intense rain, normally gentle Santa Paula Creek had turned violent and threatened to break through the old levees that protected the city’s southwest corner.

“We didn’t know what was going to happen,” said Public Works Director Norm Wilkenson, who stood atop the Telegraph Road bridge that day and watched the muddy water rise. “We were pretty lucky we didn’t get another quarter-inch of rain.”

Now, after more than 25 years of planning, legal wrangling and waiting on the part of residents, the first phase of a new flood channel has been completed and contractors are ready to break ground on the second.

The first phase, an 1,800-foot-long sluice of concrete and rock running south from the Telegraph Road bridge, was unveiled Wednesday by city, county, state and federal officials, including Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley).

“Last year’s storms were a real example of how destructive water and floods can be,” said the congressman, who helped secure $14.8 million in federal funding for the project. “For the first time, there is a ray of light at the end of this tunnel.”

The flood channel will extend from the foothills near Fair Weather Crossing to the Santa Clara River.

The project, which will cost a total of $16.4 million, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.