Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library

Floods

In August 2009 the Library received new preliminary FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps and the revised Flood Insurance Study for San Joaquin County. An overview of what this means for San Joaquin County homeowners and renters is posted on the City of Stockton's website. In Summer 2009 a newstory reminds of the October 16, 2009 effective date.

Concern over potential floods, with focus on maintenance of levees in the Delta, was the natural outgrowth of the 2006 Hurricane Katrina disaster. An awareness of the vulnerability of the Central Valley renewed commitment to fund improvements.

In January 2008 San Joaquin County officials received new federal flood zone maps that will require many mortgage holders to purchase flood insurance. [See Record news story.]

Some levee repairs were slated for 2006, as documented by the California State Department of Water Resources and posted to DWR's levee repair web site.

Leaders in government have expressed concern in news releases and other forums, prompting revisions to proposed legislation to strengthen the Delta levee system.

According to a September 17, 2005 front-page story from The Sacramento Bee, "A new federal flood-mapping policy could impose a mandatory flood-insurance rule on hundreds of communities nationwide and may even cause a building moratorium in some areas, according to state flood-control officials who are working to meet the requirements."

"The new policy is contained in an obscure memo by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, issued one week before Hurricane Katrina smashed into the Gulf Coast, causing one of the worst domestic disasters in American history."

In June 2004, a levee break in the Jones Tract area of San Joaquin County sent water spilling into valuable farmland.1 Later in 2004, heavy rains brought floods to other areas of Northern California.

The Chavez Central Library has FEMA floodmaps on file. These maps may also be purchased directly from FEMA.

There are also government documents and books about floods in the Library.

Floods in the Catalog

Search the catalog for flood-related items. For local interest items, try:

 Jones Tract Levee Break, Bacon Island Road

Jones Tract Levee Break,
Bacon Island Rd,
June 2004 (Courtesy of San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services)

See satellite photos before and after the levee break.

schoolkids in boat on flooded street
School children are rescued from their bus stop;
canals overflowed in their Florida neighborhood.
(Photo courtesy of bfraz at flickr.com; some rights reserved.)

Yahoo! News [search terms: flood "Northern California"]
search.news.yahoo.com/search/news?c=&p=flood+%22Northern+California%22
Read late breaking news stories on recent storms, flood prevention, and flood emergencies.
FloodSmart.gov - An Official Site of the National Flood Insurance Program
www.floodsmart.gov
Learn about the National Flood Insurance Program. Includes an overview of flood insurance, an interactive tool to learn what the flood risks are in your community, resources to estimate what your premiums might be, and questions you might consider as you purchase coverage.
HazardMaps.gov
www.hazardmaps.gov
A web-based collection of natural hazards and supporting data, including flood-plain maps. Search by city for flood information. The information is intended for advisory purposes, not as a legal document for single flood site determination.
Natural Hazards: Floods
earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?topic=flood
"NASA satellite images . . . show the time, place, and extent of selected large floods around the world." Includes recent events, for example, the current week or month, and an archive of past events. Images of the flooded Jones Tract, for example, were posted within a week of the levee break in June 2004.
National Weather Service Forecasts Office - Sacramento
www.wrh.noaa.gov/sto/
Check for local flood watches or warnings.
San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services
sjgov.org/oes/
Local emergency information. Good source of information regarding the current status of any local environmental threats.
State of California. Department of Water Resources Levee Repair
www.levees.water.ca.gov
Planned repairs, construction methods, status of repairs, contacts, history of levees and other information about levee repairs and the people who make them.

1Satellite images of the San Joaquin County Jones Tract can be seen at the Earth Observatory's Natural Hazards: Floods page (See above).

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