Storm Damage Spurs O.C. to Declare Emergency

The Orange County Board of Supervisors declared a state of emergency Tuesday as damage estimates from the weekend’s storm reached $13.3 million and were expected to continue rising.

The resolution calls on Gov. Pete Wilson to issue a state emergency declaration so the county can apply for state aid.

County officials said the storm particularly battered three cities--Lake Forest, Mission Viejo and Laguna Beach--where residents were still mopping up and digging out from under mud and debris.

John W. Sibley, county director of public facilities, said that the county will not wait on state aid and that he has ordered repair work, which he hopes will be completed before the next storm hits.

“We do it as we can, regardless of whether we can get the [state] money,” he said. “The reality of it is that we have to do it now. We don’t want to have unrepaired storm channels sitting there and have more water coming down.”

A Wilson spokesman said Orange County’s request was being reviewed by the state office of emergency services.

The weekend storm dumped as much as 8 inches of precipitation in Laguna Beach and other cities, delivering nearly half their annual rainfall in a single 24-hour period.

In especially hard-hit areas, such as a Huntington Beach mobile home park, residents were evacuated by boat. Canyon homes were deluged with sliding mud, and overwhelmed drainage systems sent raw sewage, mud and garbage rushing into the ocean--forcing the closure of more than seven miles of coastline.