Worst flooding in 100 years hits San Jose forcing 14,000 to evacuate

SAN FRANCISCO - San Jose was hit by what officials described as the worst flooding in 100 years as the Coyote Creek, which runs through the heart of Silicon Valley, overflowed, inundating neighborhoods and forcing thousands to evacuate.

The evacuations covered a large swath of central San Jose and involved an area where an estimated 14,000 people live. Flooding closed the 101 Freeway - a key route through Silicon Valley - as well as other major roads.

On Tuesday evening, the creek crested to a height of 13.6 feet at a river gauge point in South San Jose - nearly 4 feet above flood stage. The record before then was in 1922, when the creek crested at 12.8 feet, and before that, in 1917, when the creek reached 12.2 feet.

“This is a once-in-a-100-year flood event,” National Weather Service meteorologist Roger Gass said, referring to Coyote Creek's surging height in South San Jose. “This is a record level.”

The mandatory evacuation zone covered a large swath of central San Jose, from just east of San Jose State University and two miles east of Mineta San Jose International Airport, according to a tweet issued by the mayor. At its widest point, the mandatory evacuation area covers a zone roughly 1 1/2 miles long and one mile wide.

A larger voluntary evacuation advisory zone covered a roughly seven-mile stretch of Coyote Creek, a region that went northward from Interstate 280 northward, beyond U.S. 101, Interstate 880, and all the way to Highway 237 near San Francisco Bay.

“There's going to be a lot of time for ‘Monday morning quarterbacking' in the next few days. I think right now we're just really focused on getting folks out of neighborhoods that are in peril,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo told reporters Tuesday. “Any time we're showing up in boats to get people out of their homes, there's been a failure. Clearly we fell short if the first time folks are hearing about having to get out of their home is when we're showing up in a boat.”

The culprit was another round of heavy rain in recent days that finally tipped Santa Clara County's largest reservoir to overflow, the first time it had done so since 2006. Anderson Reservoir, which is constrained by the 67-year-old Anderson Dam, is about 15 miles southeast of the first San Jose neighborhood that saw widespread damaging floodwaters Tuesday.

The reservoir became full Saturday morning, and it wasn't until a downpour Sunday night and Monday morning that water began flowing over its wall and into Coyote Creek.

Anderson Reservoir had been releasing as much water as possible through its main outlet since Jan. 9.

“But, with the many wet storms that have occurred one after another, the rate of flow into the reservoir has at times exceeded the rate of water we are releasing from the outlet,” said a statement by the Santa Clara Valley Water District.

The first major flooding Tuesday morning came into the Rock Springs area near Senter Road and Phelan Avenue. Residents told television reporters they were surprised to see creek waters flow into apartments.

San Jose firefighters paddled on rafts and waded through the chest-deep deluge, rescuing residents trapped in homes and in trees. The boats crowded with weary families, some with children, pets and a few possessions.

Rock Springs resident Carmen Davalos told KGO-TV that she rushed to pack her minivan with keepsakes - like family photos - but she had to abandon her van to escape the rising water.

“My pictures, my kids' pictures,” Carmen Davalos told the news station, fighting back tears. “Everything I cannot replace. I took it in the van because I want to save it, but I lost.”

As of 9 p.m., more than 220 residents had been rescued by boat, Liccardo said on Twitter.

Those who had walked through the dirty floodwaters were sprayed with fire hoses in an ad hoc sanitizing effort.

“They are being decontaminated because this is polluted water,” San Jose fire Capt. Matt Low told reporters. “It could be sewage coming up from the sewer pipes … it could be gasoline or motor oil from cars that are now underwater.”

By nightfall, television cameras recorded water pouring through holes in a wall of a mobile home park, where rising floodwaters had already forced residents to leave.

Evacuation centers were set up at two community centers, where some arrived by bus. Two high schools were converted into overnight shelters, with dry clothes, food and cots.

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Animals at the Happy Hollow Park & Zoo were being evacuated from flood prone areas Tuesday. Closer to the reservoir, Coyote Creek spilled its banks again, causing a flood that closed lanes on U.S. 101.

The last time San Jose experienced severe flooding was about 20 years ago, said city spokesman David Vossbrink.

“We haven't really had anything quite like this before,” he said.

Coyote Creek is the longest creek in Santa Clara County, fed by not only Anderson Reservoir but 16 major creeks. A 322-square-mile area - from the Mount Hamilton range to the floor of Silicon Valley - drains into Coyote Creek, making the drainage area the county's largest watershed.

The National Weather Service's California Nevada River Forecast Center issued the first flood warning for Coyote Creek in the San Jose area on Monday just before 4 a.m. A second flood warning was issued for all areas downstream of Anderson Dam after 11 p.m. Monday, around the same time the height of Coyote Creek in South San Jose surged into flood stage.

The creek has already begun receding in the South San Jose area, said Gass of the National Weather Service, but highly populated areas further downstream will still see increasing flows as the wave of floodwaters powers northward through San Jose before dumping out into the southern end of San Francisco Bay.

“I would anticipate that at least through the remainder of late this morning, through potentially this afternoon, there are still going to be major concerns,” Gass said before sunrise Wednesday.

Gass said one reason the flooding may have caught so many people off guard is that flooding is rare along Coyote Creek in San Jose.

“If this was a North Bay valley location, or an area used to flooding, they're more in tune to watching these events. They're just much more aware of it,” Gass said. “With this being such a rare event, I kind of think people let down their guard.”

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(Los Angeles Times staff writers Hamilton and Rocha reported from Los Angeles and Lin from San Francisco.)

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