Santa Clara Valley Water District Seeks Feds' Help to Prevent Coyote Creek Flooding

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA -- The Santa Clara Valley Water District says that it will ask for federal assistance to address, reduce, and prevent future flooding of the Coyote Creek area that impacted thousands of residents last week by damaging homes, property and personal belongings.

“We want to actively start the process of seeking assistance from our congressional leaders to help us convince the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to step in and work with us to take new measures to reduce or prevent this type of flooding in the future,” Water District Board Chair John Varela said in a Feb. 28 statement.

“This month’s rains and the overflow of Coyote Creek impacted our entire community,” Varela said. The water district is working with the City of San José and other agencies to assist those impacted by the flooding. “Our hearts go out to those impacted by this tragedy and we are doing everything in our power to find ways to prevent this from occurring in the future.”

Prior to this month’s flooding, flooding occurred in similar areas along Coyote Creek during storms that occurred 20 years ago, in 1997. At that time, the water district sought assistance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to create flood control measures, but was turned down by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as it was determined that there was not a federal interest, according to the water district.

“We firmly believe that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should partner with our agency and the City of San José to make this project a top priority in the wake of this most recent flooding event, so that we can collectively reduce or prevent this type of occurrence in the future,” Varela said.

The water district said it expects to examine flood risk reduction measures such as expanding the size of the channel, creating a bypass, building flood walls, or other potential measures. The water district also plans to reach out to impacted residents and neighborhoods to seek input through public community meetings.

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