Home » Santa Clarita News » Environment » Remembering El Nino ’98; Santa Clarita City Prepares For Possible Storm
The seemingly mythical and ghostly El Nino that has haunted Southern California in recent winters may be near, and city officials say they are prepared for it to make an appearance.
Truck stuck in the mud on Sierra Highway when the Mint Canyon Creek overflowed (part of the Santa Clara River Watershed) during the El Nino weather event of February 1998. Photo by Gary Thornhill/SCVHistory.com.

Remembering El Nino ’98; Santa Clarita City Prepares For Possible Storm

The seemingly mythical and ghostly El Nino that has haunted Southern California in recent winters may be near, and city officials say they are prepared for it to make an appearance.


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The seemingly mythical and ghostly El Nino that has haunted Southern California in recent winters may be near, and city officials say they are prepared for it to make an appearance.

The last El Nino Santa Clarita experienced was in the winter of ‘98.

“78 homes damaged or destroyed in that storm,” said Carl Goldman, long-time Santa Clarita Valley resident and KHTS AM-1220 co-owner, “that’s 78 families without a home in the worst storm in Santa Clarita during the decade.”

The city of Santa Clarita has taken steps since El Nino of 1998, in order to better protect the city in the event of an above average amount of rainfall.

“We take preparation very seriously,” said Travis Lange, environmental services manager for Santa Clarita. “We have crews clean out storm drains and catch basins throughout the year.”

The excessive rain resulted in significant flooding and mudslides in the Santa Clarita Valley.

“Two private homes in Friendly Valley were lost to mudslides and were never rebuilt,” Goldman said, who lived in the Sand Canyon area for many years. “In Sand Canyon, two or three mobile homes were washed away in the flooding. Also, several mobile homes in mobile homes park in Newhall, the west side of the valley and Castaic were damaged.”

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger lobbied President Bush to declare portions of California disaster areas, which entitled them to federal FEMA relief, according to Goldman.

The city has a list of “sensitive areas” in the Santa Clarita Valley that may not drain very well, Lange said.

“The list gets less and less every year due to the city working on making sure the flow lines work properly and water doesn’t pool,” Lange said, but adds that the city keeps those areas in mind during rainfall.

El Nino might shower Santa Clarita this winter, but it also might be less then residents are hoping for.

“We would need several years of substantially above average rainfall in order to make up for the shortages,” said Dirk Marks from the Castaic Lake Water Agency. “It is very unlikely a wet year would be able to fill the reservoirs across the state.”

Just because it’s an El Nino, doesn’t guarantee more rainfall, Marks said. A third of El Ninos result in below average rainfall, a third result in an average amount and a third are above average.

“We are optimistic that we will see good precipitation in 2016,” Marks said. “We have four years of water storage saved up in case minimal rainfall persists. We have a fair amount in place in case a wet year comes, to store the water.”

Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.

KHTS AM 1220 - Santa Clarita Radio

Remembering El Nino ’98; Santa Clarita City Prepares For Possible Storm

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KHTS FM 98.1 & AM 1220 focuses on Santa Clarita news, traffic, weather, sports, and also plays music. Bringing you SCV breaking news first and keeping you up to date with Santa Clarita events.