When it rains … it floods
Local emergency declared for Chalfant.
Measurable precipitation fell for the first time in months in the Owens Valley last weekend and with it came flooding … can’t win for losing.
The water came down heavy in Chalfant Valley promoting voluntary evacuation orders for more than a dozen homes and flooding along Highway 6.
The evacuation order has since been lifted and the road reopened. There were approximately 15 to 20 homes located in the Sacramento Street area and around Valley Road and White Mountain Road affected by the flood, according to Jennifer Hansen, Public Information Officer for the Mono Sheriff’s Department. Evacuees found refuge in Bishop. There is no damage estimate yet.
On Sunday afternoon, water stood on both sides of Highway 6 in Chalfant Valley and sand bags blocked the driveways and yards of houses. Highway 6 was covered in silt from the flooding and cars driving over blew up a white-out of dust.
A mile stretch of Highway 6 just north of Chalfant Mercantile Store was closed with traffic being escorted by California Highway Patrol while Caltrans crews cleaned, grated and swept the road. The road closed at 8:18 a.m. and re-opened to thru traffic at 5:30 p.m. according to Florene Trainor, public information officer for Caltrans District 9. There was no permanent damage done to the highway.
Crews from Caltrans, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the Mono County Sheriff’s, inmates from the California Department of Corrections, Owens Valley Fire Crew and the Chalfant Valley Fire Department assisted with clean up efforts.
Chalfant Valley doesn’t have its own weather station and no official rain total from the National Weather Service, but there was one-third of an inch recorded in Benton and trace amounts at the Bishop Airport. But, the water that did the damage didn’t really fall in the valley but in the White Mountains to the east and flash floods came down the mountain and into the small community. The majority of the water came down between Sacramento and Chidago streets and Highway 6. Mono County Sheriff’s office told The Sheet that the area flooded is a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) designated flood plain area.
Mono County Supervisors ratified a declaration of emergency at its meeting Tuesday before the statute of limitations expires seven days following the event.
