Starting on Thursday (3/16), a private road construction company was hired to start making temporary repairs to Conley bridge and was able to get it passable by residents. It’s very far off from being fully repaired but the work that was accomplished was astounding nonetheless.
On the morning of Friday (3/17), the same crew headed up the road to the Cinnamon Creek washout and was able to bring in new culverts and place rocks and road base so people could get passage across the break.
During both of these repairs the residents of the Sequoia Oaks neighborhood were able to make some great headway with their bridge. Heavy equipment was brought in and able to get the bridge at least passable for residents to park vehicles on the other side so they have transportation as long as the bridge is passable by foot. The bridge itself is still collapsed, but the heavy equipment was able to divert most of the river back to where it needs to be instead of going across the western approach. It is still very much unsafe as it’s really just somewhat patched by leftover crumbled asphalt, concrete and river rock in places that weren’t completely crumbling. The residents are working closely together to form a plan on how they’d like the bridge to be repaired and/or rebuilt.
During these repairs Calfire crews from Tulare and Butte were able to get other pockets of trapped people out, totaling around 25. So a big thank you to those personnel!
As of today (3/19) most residents were able to make a trip into town to load up on groceries, fuel and other essentials before the next storm. We are expecting another atmospheric river to hit us this coming week bringing in 5-6” of rain. We have been told to be prepared for the bridges and roads to wash out again. Some residents have chose to evacuate, but most have decided to prepare as best as we can and stay in place.
I want to thank everyone who has signed this petition so far. I believe that it was a big factor in putting the heat on the Tulare County road crews to finally step in and do what was crucially necessary, even though it may only last us a few days. AGEE Construction out of Clovis really did some astounding work on damages and we are so thankful to their crew’s expertise and talents on heavy equipment. I truly believe we’d still be trapped without those guys stepping in!
As of now we have yet to receive any sort of direct statement from our governor, Gavin Newsom, despite widespread efforts from residents, news outlets and local representatives calling on his aid for the past 10 days.
Our county has been declared a natural disaster zone, so that hopefully will bring financial aid from FEMA and other federal and state programs to go towards permanent repairs.
So thank you again to all that have signed, shared and donated funds towards advertising this petition. You all were crucial to getting us the help we desperately needed!