Rain, heavy winds, and mudslides took Cambria by storm after the coastal town got inundated by 8.4 inches of rain between March 9 and 14, according to the SLO County rainfall data.

Although parts of Cambria flooded on March 10, when a rain gauge on Main Street measured 4.6 inches of rain, Fire Chief Justin Vincent told New Times that Cambria avoided any severe flooding events in the storm that followed due to the rains coming after high tide.

• Photo Courtesy Of Cambria Fire Department Facebook Page
• ROUND TWO Houses and businesses were affected by the flooding and storm that impacted Cambria on March 10.

"We have damage to a lot of the roadways. And we've had some mudslides and some hills that have slid, causing there to be some road closures in the Pine Knoll area," Vincent said. "We will continue to assess and see any other damages that have occurred throughout the community. But overall, nobody was hurt, [and] nobody was killed. Cambria, I think, weathered the storm pretty well."

The rain that slammed Cambria on March 10 caused Santa Rosa Creek to rise more than 16 feet that morning, hitting its peak of 21.24 feet by 11:51 a.m. on March 10.

"That did kind of take us off guard," Vincent said. "Luckily, our fire department was prepared for that possibility. But it kind of happened without any warning. They never said, 'Hey, the water's rising,' or 'It's getting near.' It was, 'Hey, we're flooded.' So it went from zero to 60 very quickly."

Fire crews went to Oak Terrace Mobile Home Park, where they were able to go from door to door in order to evacuate 14 individuals to a nearby Catholic church. As creek levels receded, individuals were able to return to their homes later in the day on March 10.

"A massive layer of mud now covers that area," Vincent said. "Any of their plants or things they had around their mobile home were definitely damaged or flooded away. But as far as their houses, the fact that they sit on stilts, I think saved them from all having massive damage."

The flooding also impacted the Cambria Community Services District (CSD) Facilities and Resources department located on Rodeo Grounds Road, to the point where the staff was displaced, Acting General Manager Ray Dienzo said. Staff and equipment were relocated to a drier location, Dienzo said.

Santa Rosa Creek also inundated a lift station located near the hardware store in the Tin City area, causing a sewage spill on March 10.

"Staff's efforts to prevent this inundation proved futile as creek levels rose to the point that staff was not able to safely access the site," a statement from the CSD states.

Dienzo told New Times that the spill was stopped on March 11 around 9:44 a.m. and that repairs were ongoing.

"Very simply, it was overrun by the creek. There is a riser to keep high water from getting into the wet well, and there was just too much water and it just overtopped it," Dienzo said, adding that the CSD was looking at future projects to move the lift station to higher ground to prevent similar incidents in the future.

The leak released around 177,000 gallons of sewage into Santa Rosa Creek, Dienzo said. But that did not affect the drinking water system.

"The good thing about it though is that the creek was so full and overflowing that [even though] the amount of sewage was a lot, it was not compared to the water flowing through the creek at the time," Dienzo said. "The good news is that it was contained and won't leak anymore."

Vincent said that in the wake of the January storms, the fire department was able to request additional equipment like swiftwater rescue gear, chainsaws, rain gear, and other equipment to handle future storm events more efficiently.

"It really paid off as all of that stuff came in just before this last weather event of last week, last Friday, and we were able to utilize all of our acquired gear to really mitigate every emergency we responded to," he said. Δ