Richard Berdak’s Main Street home was among the residences that were flooded last year when a torrent of water from heavy rains breached the banks of Bear Creek.
This year, the 67-year-old is preparing for another upcoming storm system by filling up his truck with sandbags for himself and his neighbors.
“The whole street flooded out there,” he said. “We’re in a major flood zone. All Bear Creek came down into our house. The whole backyard was sitting water. It was like the whole river came down to our house.”
Bear Creek rose to over 26 feet on Jan. 9 last year after a storm hit Merced County, causing massive property damage from flooding. The community of Planada too was flooded after water breached Miles Creek’s banks.
Berdak and other Mercedians will be on the lookout over the next few days, as an atmospheric river – a large amount of moisture in the atmosphere from the tropics – is expected to bring more heavy rainfall through the weekend.
Antoinette Serrato, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford, told The Merced FOCUS the rain is expected to taper off Friday morning and come back at night.
Merced County is expected to get a respite from the rain during the daytime Saturday, although another storm system is expected to hit by Saturday evening through Tuesday morning. “It will bring about 1.5 inches of rain or maybe 2 inches,” she said.
The National Weather Service also tracks the water levels at Bear Creek. The water is expected to be 8 feet by Friday but could reach the monitoring stage by the time the storm passes.
“Monitor stage is the stage before flood stage,” said Serrato. “Major flood stage is 23 feet. At the monitor stage, storm drains start to back up.”
During the current rainy season, which started in December, Serrato said the Merced area had received 5.34 inches of rain.
Water began pooling on the intersection of 16th St. and V St. Thursday as rain hit the city. Photo by Christian De Jesus Betancourt/CVJC
Mike North, spokesperson for Merced County, said the county is prepared for the latest storm system.
“We’ve been particularly focused this year on Miles Creek and Bear Creek,” he said. “We’ve been working on not only clearing those channels of debris and vegetation but also making various repairs to the channels themselves.”
Some repairs include lining the canals with plastic, using sandbags on levees to ensure water from the creeks stays in the channels, and flying over Miles Creek to check the capacities detention basins.
“At this point, there is a lot of capacity,” said North. “We always want to make sure that folks are prepared for any potential storms that may come through.”
In case of extreme floods, North said the Merced County Office of Emergency Services is ready to be activated to aid the population.
“That includes opening up an emergency operation center if there is an incident anywhere throughout the county,” he said. “Even if it’s a small incident, we come together.”
The operation center includes the Merced County Sheriff’s Office, fire departments, and public works, amongst others, “to make sure that if there is an incident, we’re best prepared to help folks out and limit any damages,” said North.
On Dec. 18, Merced City Manager Scott McBride told the City Council the city was prepared for the stormy season.
The preparations done by the city included street sweeping to prevent localized flooding, leaf cleanup throughout the city, storm drain cleanout, and tree trimming to avoid trees falling during a storm.
The county has set up sandbag filling locations at 11 Merced County Fire stations and their public works office for any resident needing them (see charts below).
Track the storms at the National Weather Service’s homepage. For road conditions visit Caltrans’ website.
Christian De Jesus Betancourt is the bilingual communities reporter at The Merced FOCUS, a nonprofit newsroom covering Merced. The Merced FOCUS is part of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative.
