This stretch of Highway 1 used to flood regularly in Oceano. Here’s what changed
The San Luis Obispo County Public Works Department spent several thousand dollars this past summer fixing a troublesome intersection in Oceano that seemingly flooded as soon as a few drops of rain fell from the sky.
And it worked.
When a storm hit the South County in late January, the intersection of Highway 1 and 13th Street was soaked — but there was nary a “Caution Road Closed” sign in sight.
Compare photos of the intersection in 2017 after a significant rain storm to photos taken after the Jan. 28 storm, and you’ll see a night-and-day difference. The first set of images show up a foot of water in the roadway, while the latter reveal an remarkably non-pond-like intersection.
“The new drainage system worked perfectly with these last rain events,” project manager Genaro Diaz told The Tribune in an email this week. “Although this is not a fix all ... these improvements will minimize the number of flooding events in the Highway 1 and 13th Street intersection, as well as reduce flooding potential to residents in the Meadow Creek lagoon area.”
County officals first recognized the need for a drainage project in the area in 2004, when the county Flood Control and Water Conservation District published a report titled “Oceano Drainage and Flood Control Study.”
The study concluded that appropriate flood control measures were not added as the community grew, and more impervious surfaces such as pavement prevented water from soaking into the ground.
Diaz added that the drainage situation in Oceano is “very complicated,” noting that the elevation at the intersection is only a bit more than 10 feet above sea level, while the groundwater elevation in that area is generally only a few feet below ground level.
The county completed some minor improvements near the intersection in early 2019, and then wrapped up the first major phase of the project in June 2020.
January’s storms were the first test of its effectiveness.
Diaz said the project wouldn’t have been possible without funding contributions from the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments, Caltrans, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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