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Calipatria City Manager Romualdo "Rom" Medina talks about accomplishments by city employees to help flood victims in Calipatria on Tuesday. (July 25, 2012) |
CALIPATRIA — After holding an emergency meeting Thursday, the City Council here reconvened for its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday to continue discussing the city’s damages from the flooding from the storm of July 13.
Officials are still trying to assess the totality of the damage and are trying to continue to help displaced residents as much as they can.
After ratifying the proclamation of emergency issued by City Manager Romualdo Medina, officials confirmed the proclamation had reached Gov. Jerry Brown’s office.
“There is a very long process ahead of us,” Imperial County Fire Chief Tony Rouhotas Jr. said at the meeting. “We’ve done what we can as a city and as a county.
Now we have to wait and hope the state is able to provide relief for the damage.”
In a slide show presentation by Medina, the total cost of damages to the city and county from the storm was estimated to be $9.2 million. That amount is expected to increase, he said.
At the emergency meeting Thursday, council members urged residents to attend Tuesday’s meeting to express any concerns.
About 20 community members attended the meeting and articulated unease to the council and county representatives in attendance.
Since Thursday’s emergency meeting, a method of debris removal has not been put in place, several residents said.
Medina urged the residents to be patient and assured them a debris removal plan would be put in place as early as today.
“We spoke to county officials (on Tuesday) at 4 p.m., and they told us the debris removal plan had been verbally accepted,” Medina said. “Residents should place any damaged property on the edge of their lawn and it will be picked up.”
The county needed to find an environmentally friendly way to dispose of the waste and as a result, residents had not been able to dispose of damaged property, Medina said.
Other residents voiced their concerns over the possibility of receiving funds to replace items that were lost or damaged.
“As of right now, we’re working to get vouchers for food and housing through the state,” Medina said. “There are no immediate plans to provide funding for material goods or personal property.”
In an effort to better communicate with affected homeowners, the Imperial Irrigation District is holding a special meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday.
“As of right now, the meeting will be held at the Bill Young (Jr. Middle School) cafeteria,” Medina said. “The IID … will hear the residents’ concerns and also discuss the formation of a task force that will address IID infrastructure.”
Staff Writer Karina Lopez may be reached at klopez@ivpressonline.com
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