Rep. Salud Carbajal, local leaders survey flood damage in Morro Bay and Los Osos
Local, statewide and federal policymakers surveyed some of the hardest-hit areas of San Luis Obispo County on Monday afternoon in the aftermath of one of the most destructive winter storms in recent years.
Congressman Salud Carbajal, Assemblymember Dawn Addis, SLO County Supervisor Bruce Gibson and local first responders visited parts of Morro Bay and Los Osos, including the rental business and a neighborhood of homes that were overwhelmed by floodwaters last week.
“We need to make sure that all levels of government, local government, the state and the federal government (are) working together so that everybody can get the relief and the assistance that they’re entitled to,” Carbajal said.
Late Sunday, the White House said that President Joe Biden would visit the Central Coast to survey storm damage and meet with authorities on the ground.
While details of the itinerary weren’t finalized, Biden was likely to visit Santa Cruz County, a day after he declared a major disaster in three counties: Merced, Sacramento and Santa Cruz.
Last week, 31 California counties including San Luis Obispo were included in Biden’s emergency declaration authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide assistance to the county “to save lives and protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen the threat or avert the threat of a catastrophe,” according to the president’s declaration.
In Morro Bay, Carbajal and others met with Mayor Carla Wixom and with Jeff Babb, owner of Central Coast Carts, one of businesses hit hard by flooding.
Babb showed the group in-store video that documented the flooding, while in the background tractors worked to push mud off adjoining businesses.
Including lost inventory and repairs, he said his business was set back $400,000 by flooding.
“Certainly, it’s devastating to see how the recent storms have impacted our businesses, our public infrastructure, individual homes, residences,” Carbajal said. “It spared no one.”
They then walked to look at Little Morro Creek and see the edge of Silver City West, a mobile home park near the creek.
The elected officials have been touring their respective districts to assess the damage and offer what help their offices could to connect people affected by the flooding to services.
Carbajal said his office and local municipal offices would do everything possible to help those impacted by flooding.
The group then surveyed damage in Los Osos on Vista Court, which was slammed by a wall of water that poured down the hillside after a retention basin failed.
This story was originally published January 16, 2023 at 6:39 PM.
