‘A lot of heartache’: San Carlos residents, officials still assessing storm damage

Vince Tringali spent years and nearly $150,000 fixing up his 1965 Pontiac GTO. In one night, it was destroyed, along with his family’s four other cars, two motorcycles, family heirlooms and more after flooding from Laurel Street in San Carlos submerged their belongings in 5 feet of water.

“We never thought it would get this bad,” said Tringali, a contractor living in San Carlos.

Tringali rents an apartment with his wife, Lisa, on the corner of Laurel Street and White Oak Way. The area is one of the lowest-lying spots in San Carlos but Tringali said he hasn’t seen his building flood since he first moved in 22 years ago.

When that happened, Tringali, who acts as the building manager in addition to working full time as a contractor, said he installed a pump in the building’s garage. From then on, the site has been ready to weather any storm.

But New Year’s Eve was different. Tringali and his wife were out of state when they received a phone call from a neighbor telling them they’d lost everything. In a matter of minutes, Tringali said, 2 feet of water rose to 5.

The 1965 Pontiac he spent years working on was covered with mud, inside and out, and water swarmed every piece of mechanical equipment within its frame. He bought the car in honor of the year he was born and had plans of selling it. Now the car is likely totaled.

Also destroyed were his wife’s 2015 Mercedes, his 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and a 2003 GMC truck. The storm also took with it two Harley-Davidson motorcycles, one of which his son had his eyes on. Furniture passed down from Lisa’s mother that they planned on moving to a new home was ruined and a Peloton bike they bought for their daughter as a graduation gift is likely out of commission.

His neighbors also lost some cars and his landlord has had to purchase a new $10,000 water heater and rent a hotel room so her tenants could shower while the equipment was shipped. After inspecting the damage, Trinigali said the landlord will have to shovel out another $10,000 to repair damaged sheetrock in the garage.

When Tringali posted about his experience on the social media platform, Nextdoor, he was told to call his insurance and get over it. But Tringali will likely never be made whole even after filing his claims.

“Water is the enemy regardless of whether it’s a flood, it’s your house, it’s your roof, it’s a sink leak,” Tringali said. “It’s an unfortunate loss but, the thing was, the city could have prevented it.”

Compounding chaos

Public Works Director Steven Machida said compounding issues led to the flooding seen on New Year’s Eve. While inches of rain was pouring down, the region was also experiencing King Tides, a colloquial term used to describe extremely high tides.

The tides at some points reached 8 feet high, Machida said, and with levels so high, it left storm water traveling through the city’s 54 miles of drains, culverts and creeks with nowhere to empty out. As a result, areas like the one Trinigali resides in saw major flooding.

“We had a series of storms came back to back to back and it just so happens, on New Year’s Eve, we had high tides,” Machida said. “When the tide gets that high, it fills the creek up and there’s less capacity downstream for storm drains to discharge into a channel, in this case, Cordilleras Creek. Unfortunately, in this case, they overflowed.”

Tringali acknowledged the historical circumstances the region has had to grapple with but also argued the city could have better prepared for the environmental crisis. First off, Trinigali said he has rarely seen crews out cleaning the drain near his home in the 22 years he’s lived there. That was until right after the initial storm broke. Crews were out soon after and the area hasn’t flooded since, he said.

Machida said crews go out in early fall to clear out drains, culverts and other waterways when the weather is warmer, about four months before the typical rainy season begins. During a City Council meeting last Monday, City Manager Jeff Maltbie credited the department’s early work for preventing worse flooding throughout the city.

But those initial cleanings don’t account for fallen leaves that may accrue further into the winter, Machida acknowledged while still confidently stating the drain on White Oak Way was clear before the rain fell.

Since the start of the year, he said his department has essentially worked nonstop with a morning and evening crew on duty. They only began to wind down this Monday, he said, as weather reports indicated a slowdown in rain.

“Basically from New Year to probably last week we were pretty much working around the clock,” Machida said.

Solutions, recovery

Thinking more long term, Trinigali also questioned why the city hadn’t installed a pump system at the drain in his area, characterized by a mix of homes, small businesses and commercial retailers like Trader Joe’s. Many entities in the area, regardless of size or type, experienced some level of flooding from destroyed cars to damaged infrastructure.

The city currently has three pump stations — the main being Pulgas Pump Station and two minor stations, the Holly Street Pump Station and the Howard/Brittan Pump Station. Trinigali noted those areas did not flood this season.

Machida said he doesn’t believe officials have ever discussed adding another pump station off of White Oak Way. Instead, the city’s Storm Drain Master Plan, adopted in 2017, suggests addressing flooding in the area by upsizing drain pipes further down the channel.

The document notes pipes along White Oak Way are undersized but instead up upgrading them, it suggested installing shallow traffic-rated box culverts because the existing structures crossing El Camino Real were still needed.

Machida shared doubt though that a pump system would have prevented the type of severe flooding experienced in the area at the start of the storm cycle. Ultimately, he said, what water came down on the city needed to flow out but had nowhere to go due to sea levels. A pump system would have only moved stalled waters in a circle.

Still, Machida said the city will consider all necessary infrastructure improvements moving forward which could include a pump or additional drains. His department, other city staff, the council, neighboring and partner jurisdictions and the community, he said, will have to work together to review the damage and assess what should be done.

“It really did cause a lot of damage and we really feel it caused a lot of heartache for a lot of people,” Machida said. “We really do feel we want to solve the problem. Hopefully, we can find some additional solutions that can work for everyone.”

Meanwhile, the city is keeping track of what damage has occurred to keep the county updated on a financial figure to pass on to the state and federal government to potentially receive aid with storm recovery.

As for Tringali, he says he doesn’t expect that he’ll receive support from the federal government though he’d welcome it. The future of his hobbies is also unclear. His family has already purchased a new car for his wife but he won’t likely purchase a new motorcycle, ending any hopes or considerations he may have had for passing one along to his son.

“It’s not even about starting over. It’s all material stuff,” Trinigali said. “I would love to be able to get some money back from the feds if they’re going to help us but … it is what is it. I know some people lost everything.”

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106