San Mateo residents near creeks and canals dealing with property damage and potential dam overflow

“Our neighbors lost a lot of property because their whole entire basement flooded 4 or 5 feet,” Sullivan said. “They are closer to the creek than we are.”

Nearby neighbors have a bridge from their house over the creek to South Fremont Street with flooding reaching the bridge nearby Gateway Park in between Second and Third avenues.

“You couldn’t even see the picnic tables; it was up above them,” Sullivan said of the park flooding.

Sullivan looked online for information from the city on Saturday to find help but couldn’t find any. She called the nonemergency police line, and she said the person answering told her few people were working on Saturday. In the future, she wants a better emergency response and more information on potential reservoir overflow.

Curt Lockton on Crystal Springs Road lives next to San Mateo Creek and across the bank from Arroyo Court, which saw large flooding last week. New Year’s Eve flooding from the creek cut into the bank below his house and caused an 8-foot gash in the side of his property, causing $100,000 in damages. He remains worried about dam overflow from Crystal Springs Reservoir that could affect San Mateo Creek downstream. The reservoir is part of the Peninsula Watershed, a 23,000-acre tract of land home to the Pilarcitos, San Andreas and Crystal Springs reservoirs owned by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Representatives from San Mateo County said it and local agencies are working with SFPUC on monitoring storm impacts and residents may notice increased flow as SFPUC conducts controlled releases of Crystal Springs Reservoir to prepare. The releases are planned to minimize impacts on San Mateo Creek and reduce potential reservoir spillover during extreme storms, according to the county.

Possible dam overflow

According to the SFPUC website, water levels in Crystal Springs Reservoir are not expected to reach the dam spillway during this storm event through the weekend of Jan. 7. However, during the week of Jan. 9, there is a 25% chance water may reach the dam’s spillway during one of the succeeding storms, according to SFPUC.

“In such cases of extreme weather that is outside of our control, water flowing into the reservoir would flow out of the reservoir via the dam’s spillway, which would increase flows in San Mateo Creek. The chances of this are small, and SFPUC closely monitors reservoir levels.”

San Mateo Creek is fed from the Crystal Springs Dam off the Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir north of State Route 92. It runs through the watershed land, then turns into Hillsborough until it hits Arroyo Court in San Mateo. It heads underground at El Camino Real, then daylights briefly east of North B Street where it goes back underground at the Caltrain line to Claremont Street where it runs through a couple of tunnels then heads east through Gateway Park at Third Avenue and again goes underground at Highway 101. It resurfaces at Norfolk Street and meets the Bay at Ryder Park. 

SFPUC representative John Cote said any downstream flooding in San Mateo due to recent storms was not linked to its operations, with SFPUC releasing the minimum amount legally required to release for environmental flows.

“We only release more water into San Mateo Creek at such times when our monitoring confirms it will not exacerbate issues downstream,” Cote said.

Sunnybrae

Tim Weiland, who lives on 16th Avenue in the Sunnybrae neighborhood, had 8 inches of water in his garage over the weekend, with many neighbors taking water damage. He blamed the city of San Mateo for a lack of governance and caring more about its rotational mayor system in the last few weeks. He wanted more accountability from city staff and the council for its decision making around the flood, pointing to staffing issues during the weekend. He suggested the city compensate people for their damaged property.

“Our government failed us,” Weiland said.

Josue Samayoa lives on 16th Avenue near South Grant Street with his family and said as of Friday afternoon he had still not heard from anyone at the city and saw no city presence on Saturday during the flooding. He called the storm response a systematic failure that left him concerned about how the city will be able to handle the coming storms.

“Every time I try and call, I get sent to a voicemail,” Samayoa “I kind of just gave up.”

Samayoa recently remodeled his house and now has extensive damage to his drywall, forcing him to rent fans and run them 24/7 to try and limit the damage. The work would be costly and likely mean tapping into retirement savings, he said.

City response

City Manager Drew Corbett said, at a Jan. 3 council meeting, he was committed to more effective public communication between residents and the city moving forward. He noted the city expected an atmospheric river storm Saturday but got more than anticipated, overwhelming the city systems and dispatch center. He promised city staff would go back and examine operations and resident complaints later.

“Any time there is an event like this, we are going to have to go back and determine, were we as prepared as we could have been, could we have done something differently,” Corbett said at the meeting.

Corbett encouraged the city to continue investing in the aging stormwater infrastructure to handle significant storms. Climate change and more volatile weather will influence the city’s decision making during emergencies.

“We are going to have to be more conservative as we make decisions on the lagoon and other areas in the city,” Corbett said.

San Mateo Communications Manager Samantha Weigel said the city was cleaning storm drains, focusing on at-risk areas and responding to residents. Work included clearing the creek near Arroyo Court and the lagoon area. She noted the city was still in emergency response mode and would evaluate its response later.

“We are doing what we can to support our residents as best we can and providing as many resources as we have available,” Weigel said.

People can go to cityofsanmateo.org/1938/Flood-Preparedness to report flooding and clogged draining to the city.