The Los Osos Community Services District (CSD) is looking for ways to fund permanent repairs to the Cabrillo stormwater basin, which breached and caused several homes in the Vista de Oro neighborhood to flood in 2023.
“I can honestly say this is the worst disaster this community has experienced, that January 9, 2023,” said Ron Mund, Los Osos CSD General Manager.
On that day, a basin, located on a hill above the Vista de Oro neighborhood, breached, causing water and mud to spill down into nearly 20 homes.
“I heard this roar, and I thought it was helicopters. I went to look out the window in the garage, and I saw the mud coming,” said Alice Stone, Los Osos resident.
“We speculate from the geotechnical reports that there was piping caused by gopher and squirrel holes at the base of the basin wall, which then deteriorated the integrity of the wall, causing it to collapse from the bottom up,” Munds said.
Stone’s home was in direct sight of the breached basin.
“The mud and water were about four feet high in this patio, and then it eased into the house,” she said.
A temporary repair was made shortly after the Vista de Oro disaster to reconstruct the breach.
“And then we lined the entire basin from east to west with a new liner,” Munds said.
As far as how long Munds expects the temporary repairs to last, he said, “Pretty much indefinitely. The liner is such high quality that it can last a long time.”
But the CSD is looking for funds to construct a concrete wall.
“It would prevent any future under-seepage, which was the problem we had with the initial disaster,” Munds said.
The cost for permanent repairs is over $2 million. Munds says the CSD has applied for a FEMA grant.
“They will only cover where the disaster happened. The breach area,” Munds said.
The CSD has also applied for a CAL OES grant for mitigation funds.
“If those outside funding sources come through, the district will be off the hook for a little over $700,000 for the complete project. If those funds are not available, we will have to figure out how to come up with the $2 million plus,” Munds said.
Munds says the project, once funded, would most likely occur in two phases.
“Hopefully, the federal funding from FEMA comes, and we will build a wall in the area that was breached first and then do a second project to do the rest of the basin after that,” Munds said.
Since the disaster, monthly inspections and maintenance are being done.
“We document everything we do. We bring in technical experts every two years to look at the work that’s been done,” Munds said.
The CSD did pay for the homes damaged. Stone says the community of Los Osos helped out during her time of need.
“The whole town really stepped up to help everyone,” Stone said.
The Cabrillo stormwater basin will be discussed at Thursday’s CSD board meeting.
