Preventing Future Floods in Seal Beach Being Studied

In the 14 months since a rare torrent of rain turned the quiet streets of Leisure World into destructive rivers, signs of the flooding have pretty much disappeared.

The 200 water-damaged homes have been remodeled, and the retirement community’s landmark amphitheater, which resembled a swimming pool after the Jan. 5, 1995 deluge struck, is again hosting concerts and dances.

But a strategy for preventing future flooding remains uncertain.

The county recently embarked on a study that will identify improvements for the area’s complex flood control network. The study will be completed by December, yet the bankrupt county might not have the money to implement the suggested modifications, which could cost $5 million or more.

Under the county’s bankruptcy recovery plan, the Orange County Flood Control District will lose $4 million a year in property tax revenue for the next 20 years.

The shift, which begins this year, will reduce the district’s total tax revenue from $32 million a year to $28 million.

“We are going to evaluate all projects carefully,” said William L. Zaun, the county’s director of public works. “It will make the wait a little longer to get to all the projects.”

Despite the financial pressures, both city and county leaders said they are committed to fixing Leisure World’s flooding problems.

“This should be a top priority,” said Supervisor Jim Silva, who spent hours helping evacuate victims on the night of the floods. “There needs to be a permanent solution.”

Leisure World residents adamantly agree.

“It doesn’t take anything more than a big downpour to flood this place. We have so much drainage going through here,” said longtime resident Thomas Lyon. “We should have something done about it so there won’t be the anxiety.”

The county’s study is focusing on a pair of flood control channels that send runoff from the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station and northern Seal Beach into the Los Alamitos Pumping Station, which is located just outside the retirement community.

One of the waterways, known as the Federal Channel, runs through the center of the retirement community.

The flooding stemmed from an intense rainstorm of the type experts said occurs only once every 100 years. At Seal Beach City Hall, some rain-weary officials refer to the event as “our annual once-in-a-100-years flood.”

“When you have two or three inches of rainfall in a manner of three hours in one location, [the flood-control system] cannot accept all that water,” said Herb Nakasone, manager of the Environmental Management Agency’s flood program division. “If we had three inches over three days, it would not have been a problem.”

The storm overwhelmed the pumping station, causing the Federal Channel to back up and eventually overflow.

About 300 Leisure World residents--some in wheelchairs--had to be evacuated. Many stayed in a Red Cross shelter for days while their waterlogged homes were repaired. Damage topped $3 million.

“I knew we were in trouble when I looked outside my window and all of a sudden, I had lake-view property,” recalled Bill Doane, a Seal Beach councilman who lives in Leisure World. “I saw 2-by-4 pieces of wood from my driveway floating down the street.”

The flood control study will consider a variety of possible changes, including expanding the existing pumping station, widening the flood control channels or building a second pumping station.

The county upgraded the Los Alamitos Pumping Station a few years ago, but Nakasone said the January 1995 flood shows that more extensive improvements are probably required.

Seal Beach Councilman George Brown, who also lives in Leisure World, said the least expensive strategy might involve building a second pumping station in Rossmoor that would send runoff into the San Gabriel River.

With county funding limited, Silva said he plans to seek state and federal grants for the improvements once the infrastructure study is completed.

In the meantime, Seal Beach has established an elaborate emergency plan that will be implemented in the event of heavy rains.

If the pumping station is again overwhelmed, officials will dig a temporary drainage ditch and divert rainwater to a power station cooling pond located nearby.

“We have taken good short-term measures,” Brown said. “We need long-term measures but don’t have the money.”

Other Leisure World residents agreed, saying flood-control improvements would give them piece of mind.

“Everyone looks out the window whenever it starts raining now,” Lyon said. “They watch that drainage ditch like a bunch of hawks.”

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Pumping Problem

A Jan. 5, 1995, downpour caused the Federal Channel to overflow its banks and flood Leisure World in Seal Beach. Runoff from the Federal and Los Alamitos channels overwhelmed the Los Alamitos Pumping Station, located just outside the retirement community. County officials are now looking at ways to improve the flood control system.