With unrelenting rains flooding streets and causing mudslides in recent weeks, both Antioch and Pittsburg leaders have declared local states of emergencies.
The declaration provides the cities with access to federal, state and county storm resources.
In Antioch, City Manager Cornelius Johnson declared a state of emergency on Thursday and the City Council approved the proclamation a day later.
Antioch officials on Friday estimated costs associated with the local emergency at nearly $4 million, which does not include the weekend’s storm that partially closed Deer Valley Road and caused damage elsewhere.
Antioch also canceled the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service in anticipation of more storm cleanup work that would be needed, Mayor Lamar Thorpe said in a video statement on Facebook on Thursday.
“While we’ve properly managed the response to these unprecedented storms, they have not been without damage to critical infrastructure like Delta Fair Boulevard or the Fulton Shipyard,” Thorpe said. “At this point, conservatively speaking, we estimate about $4 million in damages. I know that figure will continue to grow as more storms hit our area.”
In Pittsburg, meanwhile, City Manager Garrett Evans declared a state of emergency on Jan. 11 as staff worked in shifts to respond to flooding, downed trees, road damages, and other health and safety emergency calls. Estimated costs were not yet available.
On Monday morning, Harbor Street was still closed from Yosemite Drive to Greystone Place, where water flooded the street and sidewalks and some house and apartment evacuations took place as rain pummeled the area overnight, filling up nearby Kirker Creek. Residents of some 19 homes and four units in the Fox Creek Apartment complex were asked to evacuate and 12 persons were rescued via boat, according to Evans.
In an online statement late Monday, Evans said public works crews will be onsite through the week “to monitor and address water levels to ensure public safety.”
“With the current break in the weather, the water in Kirker Creek is expected to recede below maximum capacity,” he said.
In addition to flooding streets, the extreme weather compromised a 20-foot-high retaining wall and downed four 30-foot trees in Pittsburg, according to the staff report.
Check back for updates.
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