Last night, the Twentynine Palms City Council meeting discussed the surprise storm that walloped the city on July 14th and 15th. And just hours before the meeting, the city was hit again by another pop-up storm that closed Highway 62 and more roads, though they re-opened quickly as sand plows were at-the-ready.
July 14th storm
The storm that nobody saw coming was the big topic at last night’s Twentynine Palms City Council meeting. City Manager Stone James kicked off the meeting with a full summary of the city’s response to the storm, a review of agencies and individuals that assisted, a list of helpful contacts (listed below), and what was learned.
James noted that the National Weather Service (NWS) predicted a two percent chance of rain on that Saturday and a nine percent chance on that Sunday so even the experts did not see it coming. NWS informed the city that “due to changing weather patterns, our models are not working.”
James stated that the city was told by NWS that there was a 60-70 percent chance that a storm of equal magnitude would also hit on Monday, though that did not happen.
The storm, which stubbornly parked itself over Twentynine Palms and refused to budge, released a solid deluge that affected seven different regions of the city, especially near the cemetery, (around Sunnyslope, Encelia and Daisy Avenues), along Adobe, and caused a full shutdown of Highway 62 for several hours.
“There is a community that’s located on Encelia, south of Sunnyslope, I believe it’s Desert Vistas. And what’s interesting is that there was so much debris, so much sand, that came to the top of Desert Vistas at Sunnyslope that the public works crew moved about a thousand cubic yards – most people don’t really think in cubic yards, 3 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet – but I think most people can appreciate what that translates to. That day, they took off of Sunnyslope about 100 dump trucks of sand,” said James.
Adobe Road woes
Photos: Heather Clisby, Cindy Daigneault
The ‘Adobe Punchbowl’ – an area of Adobe Road near the Marine base, just south of Smith’s Ranch Drive-In – was heavily flooded and yet cars repeatedly ignored the dangers and drove through. One car ran over a fire hydrant hidden under water and it was destroyed. It was hastily repaired with a T-bar only to have another car drive through and destroy that fix, releasing and wasting 3,000 gallons of water per minute in an already saturated area.
And in case they missed any details, several residents were eager to share their stories of flood damage. Repeatedly, residents noted that property owners who have pushed back walls over easements and built illegal retaining walls or berms to redirect storm waters only made matters worse for their neighbors. Residents at the corner of Sunnyslope and Encelia (Desert Vista) described a “tsunami of water” that came barreling through their neighborhood.
Community response and helping each other
Though resident Mary Firestine had contacted the city, she did not receive a response for a week and a day. “So, I took upon myself and people in the community, our neighbors, that are behind me, other neighbors, we all pitched in and helped each other,” said Firestine. “I think that a little bit more reaching out to us people would have helped and taken some ease off of us instead of us always calling and us always having to come down here and say, ‘Hey, what can we do?’”
Resident Yatish Nathraj, who lives just off Highway 62, spoke for many when he wondered about the neglect of some large-scale property owners. “I know there’s a law in California that says you have a responsibility, a duty of care, to make sure your water doesn’t go onto another property and damage it,” said Nathraj. “So I think you, as a city council, as a community, you need to start holding these private land owners responsible. If you’re not gonna develop on your land but you’re gonna keep that dirt there, that’s gonna come on to our highway and block our economic areas, you should pay the bill.”
In his report, James called out specific individuals and agencies that assisted with the storm’s aftermath: Twentynine Palms Water District (Matt Schrage, Mike Minatrea and team), Sheriff Department (Robert Warrick, Al Huff and team), Fire Department (Bill Villarino, Eric Spies, Travis Aguirre), Red Cross (Erin Fox, Marjorie Smith, and team), Van Dyke Corporation (Dave Van Dyke and Matt Green), San Bernardino County Office of Emergency Services (Crisanta Gonzalez, David Davis, Carrie Cruz, and Robert Gonzalez). Last but not least, Marine Lance Corporal Kentavis Marbuary (11 Marine Reg.) who happened by (in uniform) and helped direct traffic and inform drivers.
Amidst the frustration and complaints, there was also gratitude, best expressed by 30-year resident, Robin Schlosser, “I want to say thank you, I mean, from my heart to all of you, for a job well done. And I want to say thank you to the people of Twentynine Palms for coming together and always having the spirit to look out for each other. Thank you.”
Other news from the meeting
Sandbags are available at City Hall and at the nearest fire station.
A new physician will be coming to the city in October. Also, there are plans for an Urgent Care facility in Twentynine Palms, though building has not yet begun.
Councilmember Joel Klink (District 2) will not be running for re-election after nearly 20 years on the council.
Burrtec has announced that there will be a trash pick-up schedule change beginning August 12th. Residents will receive neighborhood-specific details by mail.
The council opted to forgo funds from the Kroger opioid settlement as the city’s share ($1,711.10) was not enough to justify the accounting work required. Instead, the funds will go toward the county’s opioid abatement efforts.
Town Resources for Flooding and Storms
City Hall: 760-367-6799
Red Cross: 858-309-1200
Team Rubicon (mucking out a home at no charge): Call City Hall at 760-367-6799
Burrtec: 760-365-2015
29 Palms Senior Center/Cooling: 760-361-1410
Twentynine Palms Food Pantry: 760-361-3663
Aging and Adult Protective Services: 909-891-3900
Transitional Assistance Department: 877-410-8829
