A winter storm and resulting mudslide and flooding in 1982 led to the creation of Valley Churches United in Ben Lomond, which 35 years later is the primary charity and emergency relief non-profit agency in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
About one month after the anniversary of that horrific and deadly storm, a mis-named Love Creek struck again, sending a flash flood roaring towards the San Lorenzo River in downtown Ben Lomond that destroyed about $5,000 worth of food and another $1,000 in emergency supplies, according to Lynn Robinson, Valley Churches executive director.
At about 9:45 a.m. on Feb. 7, a surging Love Creek spilled over its banks and inundated the Valley Churche lower level storage area in minutes.
“The creek rose so fast that within twenty minutes we went from ‘no big issue’ to being completely flooded in our downstairs storage areas,” she said.
“Konrad Baumert did a valiant effort of trying to sandbag our back door, but the speed and volume of water was too much for any sandbagging efforts at that point.”
“Ironically we are the sandbag central for the Valley and yet we couldn’t save ourselves from this fast moving creek!” she said this week.
The creek at the charity’s back door had receded by mid-afternoon, leaving silt and a water mark 30-inches up on the concrete retaining wall.
“The water went everywhere,” Robinson said. “We have removed literally everything from our downstairs area this week.”
and I can send a picture of the clean-up efforts currently underway if you want.were completely flooded, without
Ben Lomond Fire Department Chief Stacie Brownlee and team assembled to assist within the first hour to both assess the situation and provide assistance in saving as many food crates as possible.
Valley Churches had recently stored the abundance from its holiday food drive that would be replenishing the food pantry during the leaner winter months. Between the fire department efforts and the community volunteers that heard about the Valley Churches flood from Facebook, they created a chain of people lifting almost all the crates upstairs to the workroom.
“Valley Churches is so grateful for the community support us during our time of need. We are used to being the source of helping others during their disaster instead of being in need of help ourselves,” Robinson said.
Donations can be mailed to Valley Churches United, PO Box 367, Ben Lomond 95005, or to www.vcum.org
