Bomb cyclone causes severe storms in California. Severe flood damage, piers down and hundreds of homes without power in Capitola, Calif., Jan. 5. (Rosangela Perry/Shutterstock)

Severe storms are forecast to pummel California through Jan. 19. It’s not too late to be prepared.

TL; DR

Dianna Crofts-Pelayo provided a summary of the impact of the latest round of storms as well as those areas of the state that were hit the hardest.

“We have experienced destructive flooding of homes, businesses, and communities, including levy breaches, mudslides, hurricane-force winds in many of our communities, and even a tornado.

“These storms are among the deadliest natural disasters in the modern history of our state. There’s already been 20 reported deaths, unfortunately.

“To keep Californians safe, the full weight of the state and federal government has been rapidly deployed. To protect impacted communities, the state is committed to continuing to support California communities and maximizing state and federal aid to those who have been adversely impacted by these winter storms.

“On Jan. 12, Governor Gavin Newsom requested an expedited major disaster declaration. “President Joe Biden approved this major disaster declaration, Jan. 14, for three specific counties – Merced, Sacramento, and Santa Cruz,” said Dianna.

“It’s not too late to be prepared for the next emergency. It is incumbent upon us all to talk as loved ones, family, and friends, about emergency plans, should another storm happen, or an earthquake, or even a wildfire later this season.

“So have those conversations with your family now; have an emergency kit ready if you need to leave your house quickly; have a kit if you need to stay at home; and then that communicating and checking in with loved ones will really also help be part of this overall culture of preparedness and resilience that we can have here in California,” said Dianna.

Vance Taylor, chief of the agency’s office of access and functional needs, spoke about the state’s coordinated emergency response systems during severe weather events.

“We are working to ensure our systems are going to be working for everyone. As a part of that, we’re looking at how do we leverage the resources made available through this major declaration that was approved by the President on Jan. 14.

“If you live in one of the three approved counties, you are eligible to apply for federal assistance through FEMA. Some of that means being eligible potentially for grant money. It means being able to have essential items such as furniture, or durable medical equipment replaced; it means potentially having assistance with rental aid; it could also mean being provided with housing and other needs, assistance, things like eyeglasses, hearing aids, and other assistive devices.

“Individuals will also be able to apply for assistance to receive low interest SBA Loans and other mechanisms to help them essentially recover financially, to get back on their feet.

“In order to apply for that disaster assistance there’s a phone number 200-621-3362 that you can call; you can also use a FEMA mobile app; or apply online.

“These services are available in different languages. FEMA will be sending out disaster survivor assistance teams to shelters in approved areas.

“Follow guidance from local authorities. If they say, ‘you got to go to a shelter or rather that you have to evacuate,’ then please evacuate. The shelters are accessible, and we work to make sure that access to functional needs are considered. The shelters have fully accessible wraparound services.

“You can go to calalerts.org and sign up for free emergency alerts,” said Vance.

Dr Jason Wilken, CDC’s Career Epidemiology Field Officer assigned to California’s Department of Public Health spoke about protecting the public’s health when returning home, following a flood.

“The best advice is really to avoid flood water whenever possible. Flood water can contain all sorts of things that are harmful for your health. It can contain toilet waste and associated bad germs; it can have hazardous chemicals including things like gasoline; it can contain hidden heavy or sharp objects.

“Flood water is typically murky and muddy, and you can’t see very well in it and it’s very easy to become injured on a sharp or a heavy object that’s hidden.

“Flood water can also be in contact with downed power lines and floods can also cause the migration of animals, so you can have live or dead animals in flood water that you might not normally encounter. So, the best thing that you can do to protect your health is to avoid contact with flood water.

“Contact or consuming contaminated food or water can cause serious illness including diarrhea and skin infections, and children are especially at risk based on their behavior.

“If you have children, do not allow them to play in flood waters, or near flood waters. Don’t let them play with toys or anything that flood water has gotten wet until those items can be disinfected, and always make sure to wash their hands with soap and water often and always before meals.

“If you must be in contact with flood water, if you’re in an area that’s been flooded, wear rubber gloves and rubber boots.

“Floods can also have uh substantial impacts on your drinking water. It can make drinking water unsafe to drink if it has been contaminated with flood water, so if you are on municipal water, if you have tap water, your local water authorities will let you know whether the tap water is safe to use or whether it has to be boiled, or whether it should not be used at all.

“Keep tabs with your local water authorities they will tell you whether your tap water is safe to use. If you have a flooded well then get in touch with local environmental health or with your water departments for advice on how to test and disinfect your well.

“Bottled water is safe but sealed bottles of water could still have been in contact with flood water, so the outsides of those bottles if they were in contact with flood water can be contaminated. The best way to disinfect those sealed bottles is to boil them for one minute.

“Flooding can also contaminate food and contaminated food is unsafe to eat so other than undamaged cans or metal pouches, you should throw out any fresh or packaged food that had been touched by flood water. In the case of sealed metal containers, those should still be cleaned, and the outside should be clean and disinfected before consuming what’s on the inside.

“The recommended cleaner is a tablespoon of bleach in a gallon of water for cleaning utensils. Keep in mind that you should never combine cleaners, so bleach plus ammonia, for example, will cause chlorine gas to be created, and that is something that can easily quickly overwhelm and incapacitate someone. Never mix cleaners, use one piece, one tablespoon of bleach with one gallon of water for cleaning surfaces and utensils, and finally, drying your home and removing items that have been water damaged is your best route for preventing the growth of mold.

“After 48 hours (about 2 days) of dampness, you can assume that there will probably be mold growth unless you’ve gotten to dry those surfaces,” said Dr Wilken.

Kim Johnson, director of the California Department of Social Services (cdss.ca.gov), said, “Over 5 million individuals that are currently participating in CalFresh, those who have had, for example, power outages related to these storm events, and have lost the food resources that they had otherwise purchased, can get those replaced within 10 days of that loss by just contacting their County Social Service Agency.

“If it’s a tribe, there are specific programs that are available for tribal members like tribal TANF tribal food programs, etc

“We continue to support the Cal Hope (calhope.org) line which you can reach either by phone or through the website and get connected to someone who can just support you in helping navigate the events that have occurred.

“We also have a friendship line for older adults available at 1-88-670-1360,” said Kim.

Tony Cignarale, Deputy Insurance Commissioner for Consumer Service of the State of California Department of Insurance, discussed some of the vital resources available to Californians during these trying times.

“Whether you’re covered for is going to depend on what coverage you have. For example, on your automobile, everyone’s required to have by state law, liability coverage, but many people also have collision coverage and comprehensive coverage.

“In order to get covered for, let’s say, a tree falling on your car, or flood damage to your car, you would need what’s called comprehensive coverage on your vehicle whether it’s commercial or a private passenger vehicle.

“For homes, businesses, or renters, falling trees on your property that damages it, wind and storm damage that damages your property, will typically be covered under the standard homeowner’s insurance, renters insurance, and commercial property insurance policies.

“Flood damage, which could include mud flow, debris flow, would not be covered under the standard policies, unless you have separate flood insurance.

“If you’re in an area that had a prior wildfire and if the cause of the flooding to your property was from the burn scar of the prior fire, then you could have coverage under your home, renters, or commercial policy.

“For flood damage, mud flow damage, debris flow damage, you would have to support it by facts and whether there’s scientific reports that come out later to show that there was a direct relationship between the fire that occurred and the flood damage that caused damage.

“If you do have losses, first get a copy of your insurance policy. Contact your insurance agent to report the claim and ask the questions you need to ask. Any conversations that you have, whether it’s with your agent or with your claims adjuster, keep a diary so that you’re clear on who you talk to; what you talked about; what agreements.

“If you were evacuated from your home or your business for mandatory evacuation, or if you had a loss, you could have additional living expense coverage for being away from your home. If you do have that coverage, make sure you keep your receipts of your hotel bills, and other expenses, restaurant expenses, that you could turn into your insurance company.

“Take pictures and video using your phone of the damage. Your adjuster will come out and inspect it but you should take your own pictures and videos just so you’d have a record.

“Don’t remediate your advantages unless you need emergency repairs until your adjuster comes out to inspect, that could impact whether you’re going to be covered, or not covered.

“Lastly, don’t get scammed by people that are going to be coming out, whether it’s unlicensed contractor, unlicensed public adjuster, or anyone that’s operating to haul away your damaged property. Make sure they’re licensed.

“You can come to the Department of Insurance if they claim to be a public adjuster.

“If it’s a contractor go to the contractor State License Board and verify that they are licensed contractors.

“You can go to our website and get the locations and hours for FEMA disaster recovery centers. If you want to speak one-on-one to insurance expert from our department, we’ll have our staff and we’ll be able to answer the questions.

“You can call us at 800-927-4357 ask any questions,” said Deputy Insurance Commissioner Cignarale.

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