1969 floods Day 6
January 24, 2009 – 8:01 am
January 24, 1969
Gov. Ronald Reagan declared the county a disaster area, the first step in qualifying it for federal funds. Stories from earlier in the week were still being discovered. Royal Farms lost 8,000 chickens to drowning at their Buckley Road egg ranch. Manager Alan Johnson and the staff were working on saving the remaining 40,000.
Three Cal Poly agricultural engineering students – Bruce Wissler, Jeff Jeffries and Pete McCracken – were co-chairmen of a volunteer group to help with the cleanup, Tuesday 45 students helped with the cleanup in San Luis Obispo.
Lopez Reservoir now had seven times more water stored than before the recent storms. Residents near Arroyo Grande Creek experienced less flooding than usual from the big ditch thanks to the brand new dam. At this point it was the third wettest January on record with 16.36 inches for the month, 1909 had 17 in. and 1916 had 18.25 in. on the books. Rain was falling again.
