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In the wake of the Texas Hill Country floods, San Mateo County Emergency Management brought nearly 100 Bay Area emergency management professionals together to discuss the critical gaps in emergency communication systems.
“Flooding is one of the worst disasters and people don’t really pay attention to it,” said Shruti Dhapodkar, director of the County’s Department of Emergency Management. “More people die from flooding and more money is lost than from tornadoes or other natural disasters.”
On July 9, the county hosted a seminar inviting professionals from 37 organizations across eight Bay Area counties, featuring crisis communication expert Jeannette Sutton. According to Dhapodkar, every city and county in the Bay Area sent representatives to the seminar, some coming from as far away as Napa and Monterey.
Using the recent Los Angeles fires, Hurricane Helene and the 2018 Paradise fire as examples, the seminar reflected on the technical, messaging and timing failures that led to the catastrophic deaths that followed.
While eyes are currently on the aftermath of the Texas Hill floods, New Mexico, North Carolina and Illinois are simultaneously experiencing major flooding events as well.
Flash floods are America’s number one storm-related cause of death, leading to over 125 deaths per year, according to the National Weather Service. As of July 15, reports confirmed at least 134 people died during the Texas flood and over a hundred remain missing.
“Disasters don’t have boundaries,” said Dhapodkar. “Just because we have cities, towns and counties does not mean that the disaster is not going to cross over county lines, so we all need to be on the same page.”
During the seminar, Sutton presented her framework and warning lexicon, which are research-based tools that cover 48 types of hazards and 112 protective action statements. San Mateo County is one of the first in the nation to implement Sutton’s evidence-based framework. The department calls its Alert and Warning initiative lifesaving.
Sutton’s framework emphasizes what messaging gets people to take action during emergencies. Dhapodkar explained that even the capitalization of certain words, such as “LEAVE NOW,” can be key to pushing individuals to take immediate action.
According to Dhapodkar, San Mateo County is ahead in bridging the gaps in emergency communication by implementing standardized alerts and warning policies, while also standardizing research-based templates for issuing emergency messaging.
“We have a lot of people getting a lot of notifications so they can’t discern between what is signal and what is noise,” she added. “So we, as public officials, need to be very clear when we need them to take an action that could prevent them from a disaster.”
Across San Mateo County’s 32 agencies, more than 500 people have alert-sending authority. Dhapodkar acknowledged that these individuals need to be trained in how to be effective messengers and understand how to form clear and concise messages. Over the next year, the county will be working on improving gaps in messaging around emergency communications, she said.
When alerts or messages are shared, people will instinctively check with trusted sources such as their local pastor, the city or the fire department — this is called social milling.
As natural disasters are becoming more frequent across the nation, Dhapodkar said public officials want to avoid people spending extra time trying to verify information.
In order to steer the public away from social milling, the county is emphasizing the importance of “speaking as one voice,” across all 32 jurisdictions, which include individual cities, fire and police departments.
“[The public will] see that clear and actionable language that people can depend on, so people are likely to take action quicker, which will save lives, because in evacuations every single minute counts,” said Dhapodkar.
She shared that the evidence-based templates that San Mateo County utilizes are accessible online for any county, city or country and are available for any jurisdiction to adopt.
“The idea is not to keep this to ourselves but really promote this nationwide because we don’t want things like this to continue happening where communication and alert and warning failures lead to people dying,” she said.
Flooding risks and safety measures
Parts of San Mateo County, including Portola Valley, Woodside, Menlo Park and Redwood City, are in high-risk flood zones. Dhapodkar said that while San Mateo County is also at risk of flash floods from storm surges, the area is also at risk of long-term flooding.
“Flooding is definitely a huge risk, but it’s an extended risk over the next 30 years,” she said.
On July 12, San Mateo County District 4 Supervisor Lisa Gauthier and Redwood City Mayor Elmer Martínez Saballos hosted “Tea and Conversation,” an event inviting community members for casual conversations.
In a response to a question from Redwood City Pulse editor Michelle Iracheta about whether the county is prepared for a natural disaster like the Texas flood, Gauthier said the county has an early warning system in place.
“We continue to look at those solutions and to make sure that we’re protecting our residents,” she responded. “It’s also important that you know who’s in your neighborhood, so that we can help evacuate the most vulnerable.”
OneShoreline, also known as San Mateo County Flood and Sea-Level Rise Resiliency District, collects and monitors data on rainfall through gauges around the county. Its flood early warning system supports emergency alerts and preparedness.
San Mateo County offers advice on how the community can stay safe during floods, as well as a list of locations where households can pick up sandbags. In the event of a flood, public officials advise against driving through flooded areas and walking through flowing water. Safety tips also include staying away from power lines and electrical wires, shutting off gas and electricity and being alert for gas leaks.
For more information on flood warnings and safety tips, visit smcgov.org/planning/flood-warning-and-safety.
To see what areas of San Mateo County are in flood zones, visit smcgov.org/planning/femas-flood-zone-maps.
Would like to see great engagement and support from the San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency District, also known as OneShoreline, when it comes to the embroiled San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority (SFCJPA) about the future flood protections; I have reached to the OneShoreline contact a couple times over the years without a reply. Additionally, to the on going increased San Francisquito creek flooding risk, we need greater stewardship of our green spaces and riparian zones. Despite an internal advisory committee at Stanford recommending in 2007 that Searsville Dam remain and the lake be dredged to maintain open water, the university is currently seeking additional analysis and a decision on dam removal is expected sometime in the next year.
But the writing’s on the wall. Already, San Francisquito Creek hosts the most viable remaining native steelhead population in the South San Francisco Bay, and the Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration named San Francisquito an anchor watershed for the recovery of wild steelhead trout in the bay. In 2014, a systematic study of more than 1,400 dams in California identified Searsville Dam as a high-priority removal candidate to improve environmental flows for native fish conservation.
It is time for Stanford to remove this obsolete dam to restore the health of the creek and secure the safety of its communities.