San Mateo residents assess storm damage

“Once the system failed along the street, there was nowhere I could send that water,” Samayoa said. At that point, you’re hoping it stops raining, and the low tide comes in, and the water recedes.”

His house and garage took significant water damage Saturday. It reached up to his knees in his garage, and he is still assessing the full extent of the damage. Samayoa stayed up until 3 a.m. bailing water as best he could, and he and the neighbors cleaned the street on Sunday to prevent other issues.

Samayoa said things have been better the last week, and he has used fans 24/7 in his garage to try and quicken the drying process. The water touched the foundation, drywall and framing, potentially causing rot and long-term issues. He is working with a contractor to assess the house and expects to replace the drywall and framing. Samayoa has been able to connect with some councilmembers and hopes to submit a claim for damages to the city once he gets a complete understanding of damages.

“What I really haven’t been able to do extensively at this point is to go down there and inspect,” Samayoa said. “I know there is moisture, and that’s why I’m trying to dry things out, but I don’t know to what extent the actual framing or wood structure itself is still wet or has mold.”

Samayoa has slept less and has been worried over the last week, thinking of scenarios where the street backed up again or more issues occur. He plans to upgrade the house’s vulnerable spots.

“There is still that fear and concern, and as time passes, it will go away, but right now, it’s fresh in mind,” Samayoa said.

The most troubling thing he found was the lack of presence from the city on Saturday and Sunday when the neighborhood needed help. 

“We all very much felt on our own,” he said. “No guidance from the city.”

He said a firetruck came out to assess the rising waters, and firefighters determined they could not do anything because Leslie Creek behind 16th Avenue was already full. Besides that, Samayoa said the city did not come out Saturday or Sunday to get a sense of the damage. He wants a better emergency contingency plan the city can activate even if it is a holiday weekend. Samayoa believes the biggest contributing factor to the damage was drainage issues in the street during New Year’s Eve. He said whatever city procedures were in place, it was not good enough.

In a statement, the city said San Mateo experienced an unexpected and significant amount of rain on New Year’s Eve and did its best to prepare by clearing storm water catch basins, storm drains and trash racks throughout the city, and bringing in crews to assist. The city said forecasts called for rain with projections of about an inch, with no expectation that the area would receive over 5 inches. It also noted San Mateo was not alone in experiencing significant impacts and flooding, with flooding occurring throughout the county. It noted since New Year’s Eve it had removed a significant amount of debris from the creeks, brought in 500 tons of sand, 15,000 sandbags and had two 24/7 sandbag stations to assist residents as they prepare.

The city also said an analysis of conditions on New Year’s Eve show there were areas of the city that experienced a 100-year storm event in three hours and a 200-year storm event in 12 hours. 

Carolyn Amstadt lives on Afton Court near East 16th Avenue and experienced flooding issues Saturday. She said despite having sandbags in front of her house, she got 10 inches of water in her garage and her crawlspace flooded. Her heating furnace was ruined, and she is still without heat. She just put in a furnace last year and said it would cost $22,000 to bring it up to the attic, something she cannot afford. She is in a dilemma of deciding to either put the furnace in the attic and hope she might get reimbursed or spend less money by placing it on the ground floor and trusting the city won’t let an incident like this happen again. She called for an investigation into the city process during the storms.

The city said in its statement that it is working to provide additional support to those affected and who experienced flooding.

“We are working closely with the county, neighboring cities and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to manage impacts to the watershed. We will also be evaluating data and have committed to doing a full analysis of our storm response and will be providing that information publicly when it is available, and discussing how we can prepare for future extreme events.”