The county will spend $20,000 to better prepare its canyon communities with sandbags and wattles – the fiber filled tubes help slow descending water –ahead of the incoming rainy season.
Last year, the canyons were hit hard by the heavy rainfall; mudslides in the Silverado Canyon, for example, shut down the main road and prompted evacuation orders in the surrounding community. And this year is expected to be no different, so Third District Supervisor Don Wagner, who represents many of OC’s canyon communities, asked his Board of Supervisors colleagues to use some of his district’s discretionary funds to help pay for more resources for residents.
The county will work with OC Public Works, OC Waste & Recycling and the Orange County Fire Authority to distribute the wattles and sandbags to the community.
“We learned last year that we were quite successful in the efforts to keep the stream beds open and keep them clear and things along those lines. So those efforts are ongoing,” Wagner said. “The idea today is just to get more resources out there, wattles and sandbags, so that folks can shore up their own properties and shore up the hillsides around their properties to just keep the mud from sliding down, some of the rocks from sliding down.”
Wagner said he can’t promise there will be as much resources as people want, however, if there is a need for more, more dollars can be spent on providing for the community.
“I think what folks should do is if they’ve got any of those creek or stream beds in or near their property, do what they can to make sure that those are kept as open as possible. Call the county if there are particular blockages in any of them that we can deal with,” Wagner said. “Take a look at your property, see where you might have a particular danger, and then if a wattle or sandbags would be necessary or helpful, don’t be afraid to either go grab them from us or if we need more, ask us for more.
“Most of these folks have…
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