On Aug. 21, San Diego City Council ratified a declaration of emergency by Mayor Todd Gloria following the disruption wrought by Tropical Storm Hilary over the weekend.
The Council vote was unanimous, 7-0, with Councilmembers Vivian Moreno and Council President Sean Elo-Rivera absent.
At least one of a handful of people testifying during public testimony at the half-hour afternoon session questioned the need for declaring an emergency at all. One person testifying referred to the emergency declaration as a “fake storm” and another called it a “money grab” for federal and state emergency relief funds.
Former San Diego Assemblymember Lori Saldana decried the City’s handling of evacuation during the tropical storm saying “the job of preparing unsheltered people was non-existent.” She also criticized the majority of council members for not showing up in person for ratification of the state of emergency.
On Sunday, San Diego Fire-Rescue crews and lifeguard swift water teams rescued a dozen unsheltered people from the San Diego riverbed near the south side of the Morena bridge. They had been stranded in or near the water’s edge during tropical storm Hilary at 8:12 p.m. None of those rescued ultimately required medical attention.
“You do not take any storm for granted,” Eric Dargan, the City’s COO told council members. “This emergency was definitely needed for this City. The City truly activated all its front-line employees – police, fire, lifeguards, public utilities, stormwater, those supporting homelessness, etc. – and all of these departments had a critical role to play in preparing for the storm. Your City employees stood up in a time of need before, during, and after the storm.”
Councilmember Raul Campillo said he saw “lots of actions of neighborliness that brought out the best in San Diegans through this storm.”
“Our first responders went to a number of emergencies,” noted Councilmember Stephen Whitburn. “Everybody across the City prepared for, and responded to, the storm.”
Whitburn pointed out, if not for the hard work of City employees, that “we would have had more flooding and more impacts. He added that “a local emergency enables us to seek state and federal assistance.”
Councilmember Joe LaCava representing La Jolla and District 1 said: “Preparation paid off, the message got out. The whole City team singularly functioned to protect San Diegans and our vital infrastructure and businesses. We do amazing things when we’re all working together. We’ve seen a good example of that over the past few days.”
Council Pro Tem Monica Montgomery Steppe praised the City for its “all hands on deck approach” to dealing with the weather crisis.
City spokesperson Jose Ysea said disaster cost recovery sources for San Diego in the aftermath of Hilary include federal public assistance and the California Disaster Assistance Act.
“The County of San Diego compiles response and damage costs for the region and submits those to the California Office of Emergency Services for review to determine if eligibility thresholds are met,” said Ysea. “Public assistance and California Disaster Assistance Act are reimbursement funding based on eligible response and recovery expenditures.”
DAMAGE
AccuWeather’s preliminary estimate of the total damage and economic loss from Tropical Storm Hilary in the United States is $7-9 billion.
As AccuWeather accurately predicted days in advance, and ahead of other sources, Hilary brought widespread flooding through southern California, washing out roads and bridges in many areas, flooding cars and homes, and shutting down businesses and governments including in the major metropolitan areas of Los Angeles and San Diego. The storm then continued its way up through Nevada and the northern Rockies, bringing continued heavy rain and flooding to the region.
The wide-reaching storm closed parks and stymied air travelers in three states. Las Vegas declared a state of emergency Sunday, and all state beaches and parks were closed in Orange and San Diego counties. Gov. Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency on Saturday as Hilary approached. Flooding in Ocotillo was reported by storm chasers early Sunday afternoon.
Over 1,000 flights were canceled on Sunday, and Los Angeles, the nation’s largest school district, was closed on Monday. Tens of thousands of power customers in California were without power from the storm, Sunday, peaking at 57,000 Monday morning. Winds were clocked above 80 mph in Mexico and the mountains of Southern California. In a wild day for the region, Southern California also had to contend with a 5.1 magnitude earthquake on Sunday.
To put this event into context, the AccuWeather estimate for the total damage and economic loss from the wildfires in Hawaii was $14-16 billion. The parade of storms into the southwest U.S. in December 2022-January had a total damage and economic loss estimate of $31-33 billion. The wildfire season in the western United States in 2020 was $130-150 billion.
