Sunday, January 4, 2009
An Unhappy New Year for the Tijuana River Valley
An unhappy update to the previous entry. The December, 2008 storms that rolled across San Diego County, caused a levee on the Tijuana River, just inside the U.S. border with Mexico, to give way, causing extensive flooding of the Tijuana River Valley and ruining hundreds of acres of wildlife habitat, farm land and recreational areas. Although this area has flooded in the past, changes made to the area by man made development has altered the natural flow of water across the flood plain causing more damage than would have otherwise occurred. It took years for the area to fully recover from the last major flooding in the late 1980's. Although not a s severe as those floods, who knows how long it will take this time.
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2 comments:
I didn't see a levee break....but we did see a lot of water pour around the levees where they meet the road. Then the water flooded in the ranches from the driveways and roadways. Hundreds of horses were evacuated by a few citizens in a marathon of bravery and dedication...the water was frigid and filthy and the mud underneath was unbelieveably slippery.
The TJ river valley on the US side has NOT BEEN CLEARED of undergrowth for 4 years. Tons of trash and tires made artificial dams along with the silt and choking undergrowth. These trash dams changed the waterflow or caused massive rainfall back up then flood when they broke through.
Are the City/County/State/US Federal and Mexican
governments going to finally take responsibility for their areas and fix this recurring problem?
Many of us have spent days scrubbing filth off our belongings (the ones that didn't wash away) and animals. We were told to get hepatitus and tetanus shots. 4 horses died and there is a nasty rumor circulating (reliable source claimed govt. agency person told him) of 20 more horses drowned/buried downstream in mud along with 3 humans....! Is this normally rural and beautiful valley a place that could use some loving attention by the authorities for a change?
I'm working with TRCC to help find solutions to the pollution problem in the Tijuana River Valley. We're a group from the community and we've been lucky enough to have someone put up a website for us: http://www.trcc-action.org/. Thanks for the interest in the area, we need all the voices we can get.
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