North Salinas residents still asking for help to prevent flooding

SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) UPDATE DEC. 28, 2022, at 5:25 p.m.- The storm may have calmed down in Salinas for now, but it is expected to pick up the rest of the week. That may prove costly for an area in North Salinas.

Residents say the county does nothing to help them during this regular occurrence, and they've had to take matters into their own hands. One resident and his friends decided to make a french drain to help the water flow easier.

"I can't fight it. I can't stop all that water," said longtime resident Francisco Ramon Maciel

Francisco Ramon Maciel has lived in Bolsa Knolls since 1997 and said the water reached his front door on Monday.

Monterey county officials said they brought contractors to clean up the mud on the roads in advance of the next storm.

But other residents say that's not enough and won't solve the flooding problem.

"Well, we do our own cleanup, most of us come out with hoses when most the rain is gone," said Brian Trygg, who lives in Bolsa Knolls. "What we need is more for those guys in the creek to clean that up."

Officials with the Monterey County Public Works department tell us they're not in charge of the creeks that would fall under Monterey County Water Resources. They're only in charge of cleaning the roads, bridges and drainages of the county.

Further, they said they were proactive in storm preparations along with the Department of Public Works, Facilities and Parks and the Monterey County Water Resources Agency. This includes inspections of culverts in the county service area, cleaning the culverts, sweeping in urbanized areas and putting sandbags and sand in typically impacted areas in the county.

"This has been an around-the-clock effort," said Randy Ishii, Director of Public Works, Facilities and Parks
He continued, "Our teams worked tirelessly in hazardous situations to protect residents and
environmental resources."

The County is constantly assessing the updating the public on road closures. Earlier road
closures in North Salinas area including Denner Road, Paul Avenue, Rogge Road, and England
Avenue in the Bolsa Knolls area are now open. Culverts under the roads will be cleaned again as
a precautionary measure. Silt remains on the road and cleanup will be happening throughout the
day, motorists are asked to use caution when driving in areas that have been flooded. The County
has enlisted the help of on-call private contractors to help expedite the clean-up efforts in this
and other areas.

County teams, including Monterey County Water Resources Agency, are actively engaged in
active storm monitoring, performing further assessments and taking appropriate measures to
prepare for the additional rains. This includes ongoing clearing and inspections of County
maintained culverts and the preposition of additional tens of thousands and sandbags for
residents.

Homeowners are encouraged to take advantage of this break in the weather to stock up on and
place sandbags around their properties especially in areas immediately adjacent to natural water
courses such as rivers and streams

Monterey County

Neighbors tell me they will get together to sign a petition, among other things to get the counties attention in helping hear their concerns. We have reached out to the water resources department, and we are waiting to hear back.

North Salinas residents frustrated with lack of county and city action to prevent yearly flooding

In less than 12 hours, North Salinas streets experienced almost a foot of water after a nearby creek in the Bolsa Knolls area overflooded.

You can see several homes in the area experiencing severe flooding. This should continue to be a problem throughout the weeks as the storm is slated to persist almost daily.

People in the area say they deal with this often when it rains—feeling like more needs to be done to stop the creek from flooding the creek and neighborhood from flooding.

"Have you ever been in a fight and you start crying because you're so angry? Before the fight? Okay, that's where I am at," said Francisco Ramon Maciel, who has lived in his home on Paul Avenue since 1997.

He lives in unincorporated Monterey County and says nothing is being done to stop the flooding. Adding, "This is the worst one (storm) since the 97 one."

“So I woke up at six before I walked the street, and I saw that the water from the fields was already starting to come into this our streets," said Maciel. "So I started knocking on the neighbors, and about 7:00 a.m., it just started filling up.”

When we asked Monterey County about the resident's concerns, a spokesperson said when the county water resource agency did their pre-winter storm inspection, their portion of the culverts was clear.

“The creek back there, the county doesn't clean it. It's been over ten years since somebody has cleaned back there," said Maciel. "But they do collect their taxes. The creek doesn't get cleaned, it's overgrown. And nobody call and nobody comes in, helps.”

The County also added that they are not sure who is responsible for the flooded area and referred us to the City of Salinas. Salinas told KION that County Public Works is responsible for this area.

County Public Works and Salinas Public Works will work in the area to ensure homes are not damaged.