Category: News Article

News Article by Sarah Wright / Pacific Tribune

A new local district aimed at combating the effects of sea level rise and flooding is making waves this year starting with a series of public meetings as it works to define its budget and priorities.

The San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency District, known as OneShoreline, was founded in early 2020 by the California Legislature to work to prevent and to address the effects of flooding and sea level rise throughout the county and on its shores, both on the Bayside and the Coastside.

Vice Chair Debbie Ruddock, who represents coastal cities Pacifica, Daly City and Half Moon Bay, said the district has begun ramping up activity over the past year, establishing its organizational structure and beginning to build a list of regional projects to prioritize. It has also launched a series of climate change risk and resilience forums alongside the League of Women Voters. The next forum, focused on wildfires and their effects on erosion and flooding, is set for June 3, followed by an October meeting specifically addressing the county’s Pacific Coastline…

News Article by Sierra Lopez / The Daily Journal

Political and environmental leaders came together for a virtual discussion around climate change challenges facing San Mateo County and how each level of governance can play a role in creating solutions.

“Climate change is one of the great challenges of our time, if not the greatest. It affects us all and impacts all that we do,” said Assembly Speaker pro Tem Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco, during Wednesday’s remote panel discussion on climate change.

Joining Mullin on the panel was the executive director of the San Francisco Estuary Institute, Warner Chabot; Len Materman, CEO of the San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency District; Davina Hurt, Belmont councilmember and member of the California Air Resource Board; and Hilary Papendick, San Mateo County Climate Change and Adaptation Program manager.

Each laid out ways the county will have to address issues like sea level rise, flooding, wildfire and other climate change related risks in the coming decades to help mitigate their effect on hundreds of thousands of residents…

News Article by Kevin Stark, Ezra David Romero / KQED

The first time the streets flooded, Appollonia Grey ‘Uhilamoelangi, known as Mama Dee in her East Palo Alto community, got a little nostalgic. The weather, though severely inclement, at least reminded her of home in Samoa.

“That time I was very happy,” ‘Uhilamoelangi said, about her first Bay Area deluge. “I was outside swimming in the rain, playing in the rain. There was water everywhere.”

But East Palo Alto, with a population of 30,000, is prone to flooding, and three times over the next 30 years, torrential rains devastated the city.

“The last two floods over here, the question is, where was God?’ she said. “Don’t get me wrong. I believe in prayers. But I lived through so many disasters.”

Now, the bay waters being pushed higher by the effects of climate change pose an existential threat to this small community of mostly people of color…