The City of SLO invested millions of dollars into reconstruction efforts after last winter's historic rainfall and city officials say they're now better prepared for this coming winter.
Director of Public Works Matt Horn said last winter’s storms are statistically uncommon, calling it a 25-year event.
“It went all the way from December 2022 through June 2023. We had two very intense rainstorms during that time, one of which — on January 9 — was a 25-year event, meaning that only happens statistically once every 25 years,” Horn said.
He added that the sheer amount of water was more than the area had received on record for over a century.
“In the 152 years of data that we have, it was the second largest amount of water that we received in a winter period,” Horn said.
The heavy rainfall caused structural damage as well as millions of dollars worth of property damage that the city needed to repair.
“We’ve been continuously working on flood repair and recovery projects, so we’ve cleared and maintained 200 sites throughout the city,” Horn said, “In fact, the city itself, the community itself, is in the best place it’s been in the last two decades to withstand winter rains."
One such project, the construction of a large-retaining wall along San Luis Obispo Drive resulted from a landslide that impacted the curb, gutter and sidewalk of a residential area near San Luis Obispo High School.
Supervising Civil Engineer Wyatt Banker-Hix said this endeavor cost around $6 million.
“This is the only way in and out for about 150 homes so we figured that would be way too impactful, so we went with a more expensive construction technique that allows access between the residents and the city and also prevented us from having to get into the creek until the creek had subsided,” Banker-Hix said.
He said construction on the curb, gutter, sidewalk and roadway should wrap up by the end of the year, but that removal of the diversion (the pipe visible within the creek) should be removed by the end of next week.
For those looking to get ahead of flooding, you can fill up sandbags for free at the Utilities Maintenance Shop located at 25 Prado Road in San Luis Obispo.
