LAKEPORT, Calif. – Six months after a heavy December rainstorm caused widespread damage around Lake County, the Board of Supervisors terminated a local emergency declaration originally put into effect because of the storm.
Lake County Emergency Services Manager Marisa Chilafoe went to the board on Tuesday with the request to terminate the emergency due to the storm, which occurred on Dec. 10 and 11.
She also asked the board to send letters of appreciation to state leaders for their assistance in acquiring a state emergency proclamation that helped gain the county access to grant funding.
The heavy rains that began on the evening of Dec. 10 continued through into the next day, resulting in flooding and road closures throughout the county.
On Dec. 11 the Lake County Office of Emergency Services activated its emergency operations center and County Administrative Officer Matt Perry declared a local emergency, which the board ratified on Dec. 15. Since then, Chilafoe said the local emergency has been extended three times.
Separately, the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport also declared their own emergencies.
Chilafoe told Lake County News in an interview earlier this year that damage from the storm was estimated at $4.1 million countywide.
On March 2, Gov. Jerry Brown issued a proclamation of a state of emergency for Lake County due to the storm damage.
That proclamation included the authorization of immediate assistance through the Federal Highway Administration's Emergency Relief Program as well as funding through the California Disaster Assistance Act, according to Chilafoe.
That proclamation made available to the county and the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport a total of more than $900,000 in grant funding for emergency repairs.
In the days before the December storm, Lake County Public Works had closed a portion of Hill Road East in north Lakeport near the Lakeside Heights subdivision due to concerns that the coming rain might destabilize the hillside, which has been subject to movement over the last two years, destroying several homes in the subdivision.
The storms would, as predicted, result in the hillside coming down into the roadway.
On April 23, Public Works crews and contractors hired by the county completed the task of clearing away tons of soil in order to reopen the road, which is an access point to Sutter Lakeside Hospital.
Chilafoe told the board on Tuesday that reopening the road was the final piece of the county's emergency storm response phase.
The Public Works Department now is beginning the second phase of the project, which according to Chilafoe's written report will include permanent repairs to allow “permanent, safe access to the public when using Hill Road.”
All other county repair projects are either complete or in progress, and are awaiting approval and reimbursement of eligible costs under the grant application process, according to Chilafoe.
With the county now moving into the recovery phase, Chilafoe said it was appropriate to terminate the local emergency.
Chilafoe told the board that the Lake County Office of Emergency Services submitted a formal application on April 20 to the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services for the California Disaster Assistance Act funding.
She said those funds will provide financial relief for completing a number of projects.
The county, she added, also is seeking Federal Highway Administration funds for local roadway repairs.
Chilafoe said the process to get the California Disaster Assistance Act funds was “quite significant,” as the county hadn't been included in the governor's original state of emergency proclamation.
The county was added to the proclamation through the efforts of Assemblyman Bill Dodd, state Sen. Mark McGuire and the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, which sent representatives to Lake County a number of times to work on damage estimates, Chilafoe said.
Chilafoe asked the board to approve sending letters of appreciation to Gov. Brown, Dodd, McGuire and Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.
The board voted unanimously to end the emergency and to send the letters of thanks to the state leaders.
Chilafoe told Lake County News later on Tuesday that the total estimated amount of grant funding to cover damages and repair that the county of Lake has applied for is $652,000.
“This figure is a project estimate only, and is subject to change given the parameters of each project,” she said.
She said both cities and Lake County Special Districts have applied for some of the funding as well. Figures for those applications weren't immediately available on Tuesday.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Supervisors terminate storm emergency; county applies for grant funding for repairs
- Elizabeth Larson
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