MEMORIES OF THE MARCH 22nd, 2018 GROVELAND, CA FLOOD. WHAT IT MEANS FOR US TODAY

The weather right now reminds me of the 2018 season! Drought conditions and then boom! LOTS of rain (6-12 inches in a few hours.) Ferretti Rd. washed out near the PML gate. Some people were lucky enough to get a glimpse of the “famous” propane incident:

“Update at 2:05pm: …the CHP is also reporting that just outside of Groveland a loose propane tank floating along the highway hit a vehicle just before 2 p.m…” (mymotherlode.com) Watershed Progressive is now factoring in the “less frequent, higher precipitation” storms that we may be facing in the years to come. (They build water catchment systems all over the West. You can see their office on main street.)

One of my clients had his man cave flooded in this storm. (Someone had installed the wrong sump pump!) When I calculate watershed precipitation rates for erosion control projects, I am now factoring in a rate of 6-12 inches in one hour.

So some things for us to remember:

1) When you have gutters replaced go with the larger 5 to 6 inch ones

2) The French drain you built years ago probably needs cleaning and or rebuilding to handle increased water flow

3) Sump pumps are a band-aid!! If you’ve got water under your home build a trench!