Humans like to build on flat level land. Problem is the water likes it too.
We can go decades between floods in San Luis County but when a cloud bursts the results can be swift. Any time rain falls faster than one inch per hour flooding is likely to follow. Parts of South Higuera Street are the overflow for San Luis Creek at times like these.
Here photographer Tony Hertz got his feet wet for this photo. The creek was 4 feet over its banks when almost 4 inches fell in 24 hours and a drenching 1.7 inches fell in one hour alone. In modern times flooding in 1969 and 1973 were of a higher magnitude. I haven’t seen anything approaching this since 1995.
This storm seemed to be narrowly focused, with flooding reported in San Luis, Los Osos and Atascadero. Schools were closed in the Atascadero Unified district but were expected to open the next day.
Cal Poly instructor John Boyd eades along lower Higuera Street in San Luis Obispo Monday as he walks home because buses weren't running. ©Tony Hertz/Telegram-Tribune
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Even up here in Seattle I find it hard to conceive of rain falling that hard. Isn’t this why there is such a high wall surrounding the Mission area?
I have never seen water as high as the Mission either first hand or in photos, they did a pretty good job of picking that site. The flood zone seems to be about three blocks downstream where Stenner and San Luis Creek come together and the land flattens out.
I was in the Navy in 1969, so I missed that one, but I was around for the 73 and 95 floods. After the water receded from the 73 deluge, I helped friends at Pacifc Motor Imports (Saab and Fiat Dealership) on Parker st. drain the water from engines and gearboxes, and in somecases interiors of some of the cars on their lot. Several of the used cars that were in a fenced area next to the building floated and were carried to the back of the lot and bunched together against the back fence. One, a Datsun 510 that belonged to an employee, was full of water. We opened the doors, letting most of the water out, then lifted the carpets and knocked the drain plugs out of the low spots in the floor. Obviously someone at Nissan was thinking ahead.