Levee on Yuba Repaired but Others in Peril

Construction crews completed repair of a collapsed levee along the rain-swollen Yuba River Saturday, but as thousands of evacuees returned to flood-damaged homes, rescue workers also discovered the body of a 61-year old man in the trunk of a submerged car.

Dozens of people remained unaccounted for and authorities said they expect to find more bodies as floodwaters recede and a grim house-to-house search is completed in the farm communities of Linda and Olivehurst, about 50 miles north of Sacramento.

Meanwhile, about 20 miles to the southwest, 400 residents of the farm town of Robbins were forced to flee as another levee threatened to give way.

National Guard troops and Highway Patrol officers evacuated the community after a 100-foot bulge appeared on the bottom of a bypass levee off the Sacramento River. Flood control crews placed tons of rock and gravel on the levee’s sagging walls, but the bulge grew to nearly 400 feet and created a four-foot water spout.

Work by Floodlights

Construction crews worked under giant floodlights Saturday night in an effort to save the town, located 25 miles north of Sacramento.

Donald H. Neudeck, chief of flood operations for the state, said levees like that near Robbins were not built to hold the volume of water produced by nine days of heavy rain. He added that it would be several days before the danger subsides along the vast network of Northern California’s waterways.

“It’s the flood of the century down through here,” Neudeck said. “When you’re looking at levees that could stretch a distance from here to New York and you’re trying to keep track of it, it’s one big job.”

In all, more than 30,000 people have been forced from their homes since a series of Pacific storms hit the West Coast on Feb. 12, leaving the state’s system of dams and reservoirs filled beyond capacity. At least 7,000 homes and 500 businesses have been damaged or destroyed, Gov. George Deukmejian reported Saturday.

Damage Total Rises

After surveying the devastation along the ruptured Yuba River, officials added $50 million to their statewide estimate of flood-related damage, bringing the total to more than $330 million.

Deukmejian, in a live radio broadcast, said he plans to use money from the state’s $840-million reserve fund to pay for additional relief programs for flood victims. The governor, who previously declared a state of emergency in 29 California counties, said he will announce his specific plans “in the next few days.”

In the tiny communities of Linda and Olivehurst, near Marysville, the successful repair of a 150-foot gap in the Yuba River levee allowed floodwaters that had submerged homes to their rooftops to recede.

An estimated 13,000 of the 24,000 evacuees who fled Thursday night with only a few minutes notice were able to return home for their first glimpses of water-damaged belongings.

But while all of Olivehurst and half of Linda dried out in the sunshine, the worst areas of inundation remained under as much as 10 feet of water, forcing about 11,000 people to stay in Red Cross shelters for at least another night.

Scene Upon Return

For those who were able to return, the scene was one of devastation.

As cars loaded with all kinds of possessions began drifting back into the neighborhoods, George Turner, 64, kicked his bare feet through a mound of oozing mud and surveyed what was left of his home, still under two-feet of water.

“Everything is turned upside down, topsy turvey,” he sighed. “Dressers are upside down, chairs, everything is floating.” Like many Linda residents, Turner had no flood insurance. And like most, he is poor.

“I’ve been strapped to the bare bones,” he said. “This gets down to the marrow.”

Yuba County Administrator Jay Hull said the area hardest hit by the flood is among the poorest in a county that has the highest welfare rate in California. “These are the least likely areas to recover because of the low income level,” Hull said.

Starting to Recover

Most streets in the reopened portions of Linda were bustling with activity and determination, however. Residents, wearing rolled up pants and mud-stained shirts, hosed down their driveways while furniture was piled in the streets to dry out under clear skies.

Tami Hawk, 25, and her husband, Danny, were in the process of buying an auto repair shop that was inundated with four feet of water. “We’re going to open, we’ll clean up and start going again,” she said, then hesitated, reflecting on whether there would be any business because of the flooded roads: “If they can’t get in, what’s the use of reopening?’

Kathy Childs returned to her home on the east side of Linda only to find her house untouched. “I was very relieved,” she said. That feeling was short lived, however, when she discovered that the beauty shop she owns on the west side of town was under two feet of water.

“We hope to open as quickly as we can but we’re facing a lot of cleanup,” Childs said, a shovel and mop in hand.

Saturday’s discovery of a body in the trunk of a car was the first death reported in the Linda-Olivehurst area since the levee broke Thursday night. Eleven other deaths were reported statewide during the siege of storms and flooding.

Man Had Lost Home

The man’s identity was being withheld pending notification of his family. Authorities said his home had burned down just before the levee broke and that he had refused an order to evacuate. Yuba County Undersheriff Dennis N. Moore speculated that the man crawled into the car’s trunk to escape the rain, leaving the lid open, and fell asleep as the floodwaters rose.

Anticipating that more bodies would be found, sheriff’s rescue teams continued a house-to-house search Saturday while divers combed the murky waters in areas that still were submerged.

Shasta County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Richardson, who was coordinating the effort, said there were no estimates on the number of people still missing but that they probably number “in the dozens.”

The receding waters also posed health problems. Kenneth Kizer, state director of health services, said water contamination would pose a serious threat in the days ahead because of widespread backup in the area’s overtaxed sewage system.

“These are almost routine problems for such an unroutine situation,” Kizer added.

Areas in Danger

Meanwhile, officials warned that the danger was not yet over in other rain-ravaged areas of Northern California. Swollen rivers continued to funnel into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, keeping water levels at an all-time high and threatening a number of sparsely populated farm islands.

At Lake Tahoe and in Western Nevada, crews worked around-the-clock shifts to repair a 12-inch gas line that ruptured Wednesday, leaving thousands without gas for heating or cooking.

Although many residents were reported to be opening their homes and there were plenty of volunteers, others found ways to make a profit off the misery.

Some businesses jacked up the price of firewood from the usual $150 a cord to $350. Prices for kerosene jumped 25 cents to 50 cents a gallon.

Mark Gladstone reported from Robbins and Linda, and Leo C. Wolinsky reported from Sacramento. Also contributing to the story was Times staff writer Douglas Shuit in Linda.