Corps says weekend rain was not enough for emergency river clearing

By: PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer | Wednesday, January 4, 2006 11:40 PM PST ∞

OCEANSIDE ---- Though nearly 2 inches of rain fell on Oceanside last weekend, the rainfall did not trigger an emergency response from the Army Corps of Engineers, which has promised to quickly clear brush from the San Luis Rey River if severe weather creates the potential for flooding.

Corps officials said Wednesday the recent rainfall was not heavy enough to pose a threat and city officials agreed, saying they were satisfied with the Corps' handling of the situation.

Glyn Grismore, whose property is next to the river between Douglas Drive and College Boulevard, said she was surprised that emergency crews did not move through the river bed over the weekend to clear away the thick blanket of vegetation that fills the city's flood control levee.

"I was curious because they kept saying, 'Don't you worry, we'll get in there and do something if it rains hard,' " Grismore said.

In September, the Corps predicted that failure to remove the profusion of plants that grow in the flood channel could damage property if a very heavy rain dumped enough water on the river valley.

Jay Field, a Corps spokesman, said Wednesday that it will take more than the rain that fell last weekend to trigger an emergency clearing response.

"If the forecast, for three consecutive days, contains 6 inches of rain or more, then we would clear debris from the river immediately upstream from the bridges," Field said.

The Corps has previously said that a large enough volume of water, moving swiftly through the concrete levee system, could dislodge the vegetation, cause it to build up on bridge pilings and form an impromptu dam, which would cause water to spill outside the channel and into homes, perhaps causing up to $180 million in property damage.

Field said that Oceanside home owners living near the channel should not take a lack of action during the last storm as proof that the Corps will not act in the event that a much larger, and potentially damaging, storm looms.

"We have a team standing by and we are monitoring the situation 24 hours a day," Field said.

Peter Weiss, director of the city's Public Works Department, said Wednesday that he was satisfied with the Corps handling of the situation.

Weiss said the emergency response plan developed by the city and the Corps has several triggers, which include the amount of water actually flowing through the channel.

"We may not get any rain in Oceanside but, if they have 4 inches up in the mountains, we know it's going to become a problem for us," Weiss said.

He added that, once river flow reaches 5,000 cubic feet per second, the Corps would need to begin its response effort. At 10,000 cubic feet per second, the bridge-clearing efforts would begin. At 25,000 cubic feet per second, a much larger five-mile clearing effort would begin.

Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com

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