An All Hands on Deck Response

Stats on San Mateo's Services During Extreme Series of Storms

Staff from across the City of San Mateo have been working rapidly to prepare for and respond to the torrential rains that drenched our region over the last few weeks. Forecasts initially called for 1 inch of rain, however we received more than 5 inches in less than 24 hours. We know this extreme amount of rainfall across multiple storms have been a major challenge for the community, and we are continuing to respond to the needs in our City.

From our Public Works crews who’ve been trudging through creeks to remove debris and our dispatchers answering thousands of calls for service, to our Clerk’s Office that set up City Hall as a potential evacuation site and our arborists responding to calls of downed trees – this has been an all hands on deck response.

“This has been a tremendous demonstration of public service. Our employees are our essential workers, they show up to take care of us when we need them, and they do it out of love and dedication for our city,” Mayor Amourence Lee said. “We are committed to ensuring we continue to learn from this experience and make the investments in our infrastructure to build a resilient community in San Mateo.”

Response Stats

1 million pounds – distributed 500 tons of sand & 15,000 sandbags to residents at our free 24/7 sandbag stations (in a typical season, demand is usually for just 5,000 bags)
60 million gallons – our Wastewater Treatment Plant processed close to 60 million gallons a day (3 times the normal amount during a typical large rain event)
1,300 calls for service in one day – Police Dispatch handled 1,300 calls on New Year’s Eve (nearly 3 times the normal amount) and we subsequently set up a 24/7 Public Works Dispatch for the following storms
260 miles of sewers – we actively maintain our sewer lines, 130 miles of storm drain, 11 pump stations, 42 trash racks, and over 5,800 catch basins
44+ downed trees – our parks staff and arborists have been clearing out downed trees on public property, and evaluating city trees potentially affected by the storms
42 adopted drains – our community has also risen to the occasion volunteering to care for 42 new drains as part of our Adopt-A-Drain program. (Last year there were just 7 total new adoptions for the entire year)
4 dump truck loads – we are clearing out a significant amount of debris from our waterways, including 4 dump truck loads from the Arroyo Court area alone
24/7 – while several of our City services are always provided around-the-clock, we also opened our Emergency Operations Center twice and proclaimed a local emergency
San Mateo Creek & Crystal Springs Reservoir – we’ve been working closely with the SFPUC to on the impacts of the storm. Thanks to careful monitoring and management, the reservoir is not expected to spill through at least the rest of January

Storm Preparation

Our storm preparation plans began at the start of rainy season in October. Since that time, we have been continuously clearing catch basins, removing debris from trash racks in creeks, clearing leaves, preparing pump stations, managing the lagoon, maintaining the community’s 260 miles of sewers and 130 miles of storm drain, and offering a 24/7 sandbag station.

Earlier storms on December 10 and 11 brought about 1.6 inches of rain, and we experienced no flooding or negative impacts like the New Year’s Eve and “bomb cyclone” storms that followed.

Recovery & Ongoing Work

We are currently in the midst of a major capital improvement effort called the Clean Water Program that will update our wastewater treatment plant and sewer system. We are continuing our Clean Creeks and Flood Protection Initiative that aims to improve our stormwater drainage system – a vital service that benefits the entire community.

We will continue working with the County to determine how our community may be able to access potential federal disaster funding. We will provide updates on progress and next steps as soon as that is available. Our Council also plans to discuss local support for those affected by these storms.

The City has hired an expert firm to evaluate the City’s response during the storm and will provide the analysis publicly.

Updates on our storm response will continue at www.cityofsanmateo.org/floodprep