Homeowners Return to the Muck

Wearing hard hats and slogging through reeking muck, the victims of a flood from a ruptured water tank returned briefly to their Westminster homes Tuesday, homes they barely recognized and no longer cared to claim.

“Most of the stuff in my room doesn’t even belong to me,” said David Vandermade, 42, after surveying what used to be his two-story townhouse on Hefley Street.

Quietly, almost solemnly, he stepped over trash and chicken wire, metal beams and hubcaps, items that had been strewn about the living room when a 6-foot-high current of water burst in Monday. A barbecue grill was shoved behind his couch. A flattened garage was plastered against his kitchen window.

“It’s [all] someone else’s,” he said. “It came in from that wave.”

Five million gallons of water tore through a cement panel of a 30-year-old above-ground reservoir and slammed into a fire station and the Hefley Square Town Homes, where residents were just waking up. The gushing water injured six people, knocked townhouses off their foundations and tossed cars on top of carports and garages.

Building inspectors escorted residents back to the complex Tuesday and allowed them to retrieve some of their belongings. While 10 units will be demolished, officials said, those who live in the remaining 39 homes will probably be able to move back in today.

The Vandermades were among the 10 families who learned that their homes had been scheduled for demolition.

Salome Vandermade made her way through the mud-streaked front door--its “Home Sweet Home” sign intact but underlined with a red-tag warning from the city--and went straight for the upstairs bedrooms. She fished out her son’s Mater Dei High School football letterman’s jacket, a gem that made her smile as she held it up proudly, amazed it was unharmed.

“What more can you say? This is all we have left,” she said.

A smudgy brown line on the walls downstairs indicated how high the water was Monday, and photographs hanging above the 4-foot-high mark stood in sharp contrast to the rest of the room. After half an hour of poking around the debris, David Vandermade finally walked outside in disgust.

“The house doesn’t look like a house,” he said. “It’s a sewer.”

All around them, neighbors sifted through their belongings, their memories, and picked through piles of stray items that had somehow floated into their worlds. They delighted in the discovery of lost treasures that had managed to escape the rapids unscathed.

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For Barbara Jones, 64, it was her cat, Tiddles.

“I thought she was dead, but they found her,” Jones said of the firefighters who rescued the soggy feline.

Her car, however, did not fare as well. “I lost my Lexus,” Jones said. “It was a ‘92, but it was like brand-new, and I loved my Lexus.”

Mary Z. Jones, 45, said she had to sneak back to her damaged condominium to rescue her two dogs and three puppies. “I lied,” she said. “I told them I had to get my medication.”

Also surveying the damage Tuesday were city officials, who organized temporary mail delivery for residents and installed locking metal boxes outside each condominium for neighbors to store valuables during their transition into new homes. Police officers will guard the buildings 24 hours a day from looters and trespassers, city spokeswoman Sandra Evans said.

Officials set up a makeshift fire station at a house on nearby Willow Street to replace the severely damaged Station 65. County assessors also were on hand to determine what property tax relief they could provide homeowners.

But even as cleanup efforts continued, many residents expressed frustration by day’s end as the enormity of what had happened and what they had lost began to sink in.

At a community meeting with city officials Tuesday afternoon, several of the more than 200 attendees complained that the city was not doing enough to take care of its displaced residents.

Many simply wanted their cars back and were angry that they had to pay insurance deductibles for the damaged vehicles.

“I know everyone here has lost homes and vehicles, but it’s not our responsibility,” said Jay Alarcon, whose home was damaged and garage totaled. “Your water, the city’s water, came through our homes and now you’re telling us to call our insurance?”

Newlyweds Julie and Mark Newbury also were angry that the city did not take steps to upgrade the aging reservoirs years ago when former city officials said the tanks might have been unsound.

“They put all our kids in danger . . . by not fixing it,” said Julie Newbury, 25.

City officials listened to residents’ concerns and promised to develop a recovery plan with their needs in mind. Most residents applauded the city’s handling of the disaster and the level of security given to whatever belongings they had left.

“I know they’re trying the best they can,” Jones said. “I just hope they follow through, because words are cheap.”