The city of Oceanside is bracing itself for the next round of rain as it awaits word from the California Office of Emergency Services on a request for disaster aid.
In a letter dated March 27, 2023, Oceanside’s Assistant City Manager Michael Grossman wrote: “The city of Oceanside has experienced significant damage due to ongoing rain events occurring this winter. The city has received over 175% of normal rainfall to date and our infrastructure has suffered damage due to excessive rainfall, unstable soil, overflowing creeks and coastal storms. During the week of March 12, the North San Diego County area received 4-6” of rain in a couple of days, causing numerous landslides, creeks to overflow and a sinkhole that caused the closure of all westbound lanes of state Route 78 for the last 13 days.”
The letter goes on to ask the state to help cover more than $1 million in expenses related to the storm damage.
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“We are currently at about $1.3 million,” said Deputy Oceanside Fire Chief Peter Lawrence, who added that number is likely to go up.
Lawrence said a large portion of the damage was caused by a landslide on Sky Haven Lane that made 10 homes below it uninhabitable. Seventeen people were displaced last week and are still not allowed to return home.
The city is now looking at the extent of damage caused by thousands of trucks and other vehicles now being detoured from the 78 westbound onto Vista Way, Lawrence added.
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“We’re getting heavy truck traffic as well as continuous vehicular traffic on that road,” Lawrence said.
That heavy traffic, Lawrence said, is causing “significant” damage to the roadway.
Lawrence expects inspectors from the governor’s office of emergency services to visit Oceanside in the coming ays to assess the damage.
With more rain on the way, Lawrence said the fire department’s swift-water rescue team is on standby, as well as workers from the city’s public works department, should any flooding problems arise.
