Oceano residents told to prepare for flooding as next wave of storm approaches SLO County

San Luis Obispo County’s Office of Emergency Services urged residents in Oceano to prepare for the possibility of flooding due to the storm impacting the region this week.

According to a news release Thursday night, residents in low-lying areas south of Highway 1 along the Arroyo Grande Creek Levee should “remain alert and be prepared to evacuate to higher ground should flooding occur during the storm expected on Friday.”

The county said the levee remains stable, but heavy rain could cause spillover or levee failure quickly “with little time for residents to be alerted.”

The same area saw significant flooding during the rainstorms in early January when a deluge of water topped the levee and spilled over into the surrounding farmland.

The county has since repaired the levee breach from the storm and reinforced it for 1,000 feet along the mobile home parks, according to the release. It has also installed temporary repairs to another 1,000 feet of levee.

According to the release, the San Luis Obispo County Public Works team will remain on call 24 hours a day through this latest weather event to monitor stream gauges and on-site conditions.

“Even though we are expecting less rain than we saw with the storms in January, the ground is saturated, and we need to remain vigilant,” Emergency Services Manager Scott Jalbert said in the release. “We may see up to 3 inches of rain this weekend with heavy rain rates possible at times.”

Residents surrounding the Oceano Lagoon should also be prepared for potential flooding and evacuation, according to the release. The county said the storm will continue to fill the lagoon and could potentially overflow into surrounding residential neighborhoods.

If evacuations become necessary, emergency officials will use Wireless Emergency Alerts, broadcasts to local television and radio stations, as well as other notification methods like route alerting, sirens or the reverse telephone notification system to alert residents.

This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 6:47 PM.

Kaytlyn Leslie

The Tribune

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Kaytlyn Leslie writes about business and development for The San Luis Obispo Tribune. Hailing from Nipomo, she also covers city governments and happenings in San Luis Obispo. She joined The Tribune in 2013 after graduating from Cal Poly with her journalism degree.