Riverside County declared a local emergency this week after discovering that flash flooding from last week’s typhoon caused potentially infected water from a poisonous landfill near Thermal to flood three nearby cell home parks.
County crews assessing damage over the Labor Day weekend, after about 3 inches of rain fell Friday in parts of the eastern Coachella Valley, found that a protective berm around Lawson’s long-closed sale had ruptured, as had a blanket covering it. County Chief Executive Jeff Van Wagenen wrote in the emergency declaration.
On Saturday, the county issued an evacuation warning for the San Jose mobile home park, the Vargas mobile home park and the Gamez mobile home park, with a facility for citizens from the Galilee Center in Mecca.
But none of the park’s citizens decided to evacuate Tuesday, Shane Reichardt, spokesman for the Riverside County Department of Emergency Management, said in an interview. Sheriff’s and county fire crews went door-to-door to inform citizens about the evacuation warning, Reichardt said, and the public recordings made at fitness.
The TODEC Law Center is also concerned about county outreach efforts in the parks. Luz Gallegos, executive director of the nonprofit, said some citizens didn’t need to evacuate for fear their belongings would be stolen in the process.
Some had been informed of the possible contamination through extension officials, but others were still informed a few days after the storm.
“Some other people are applying or are not available, or many other people here in this type of network are afraid to open doors to anyone,” said Alberto Cruz, one of TODEC’s lead organizers, as he and others traveled to the organization Wednesday at Vargas Mobile Home Park to speak with residents. “Usually, the network here learns things basically by word of mouth. “
In homes where no one knocked on the door, TODEC handed out flyers in Spanish.
County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, who represents the Coachella Valley, described the landfill flooding as “a public health emergency,” while the county said all citizens deserve to avoid contact with rainwater and runoff until further notice.
Officials with the county’s environmental fitness branch took rainwater samples Tuesday to check for poisonous materials, with effects expected within two days. Reichardt said the delay in monitoring rainwater until Tuesday was primarily because the county government was unable to access the spaces. maximum affected by flooding.
A spokesperson for Riverside County Public Health said it has assessments in the field that are talking to citizens to see if they have any negative health effects.
“Once this fitness assessment is completed and the control effects are in place soon, we will have a better idea of the situation,” said spokesman Jose Arballo Jr. of Riverside University Public Health System.
While the flooding caused significant access issues — only four-wheel-drive vehicles can access parts of the parks, Gallegos said — TODEC officials were racing to make sure others were aware of the landfill’s potentially harmful health impacts.
Gallegos said the effects of the weekend storm, as well as Tropical Storm Hilary, underscore the need for more infrastructure in the area, adding that park communities are “really hurting right now. “
“Not only Hilary, but now it’s a never-ending struggle, and it’s very complex for those populations,” Gallegos said, noting that some citizens also have fewer cadres after storms.
When Cruz and his organization marched around Vargas’ cell home park, the closest of the landfill’s three parks, on Wednesday, the water had receded widely, with most roads and yards dry. But patches of muddy water persisted in some spaces near the houses. , and long stretches of brownish-green runoff were found right along the park’s main entrance, as well as in the palm groves bordering date palms.
Cruz noted that some mobile home parks in the district have recurring problems with arsenic contamination in drinking water, but said the main fear about typhoon runoff this week is similar to physical contact.
TODEC officials will continue to monitor the scenario this week, Cruz said, and will be in a position to conduct new outreach activities based on the effects of county testing of surrounding stormwater.
“If the county declares something a hazard or a health issue, we will be aware of that so we can inform our people,” Cruz said.
The landfill, owned by Kim Lawson and closed since 2007, has a history of environmental disruption dating back decades.
The EPA claims that in 1999 it issued a Notice of Infringement to landfill operators who ignored it. Three years later, the EPA discovered elevated levels of dioxin, a highly poisonous chemical known to cause cancer, reproductive disorders and other disorders.
Later that year, the Cahuilla Indians of the Torres-Martinez Desert began tracking the air along the tribe’s border with the landfill and discovered records showing the presence of debris in concentrations above “levels considered for human fitness and the environment. “, the EPA ordered landfill owners to prevent the burning of counterfeit waste at the site after claiming to have ignored a similar order from the tribe.
In 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported that the landfill closed after the EPA discovered arsenic, asbestos, dioxins and other chemicals resulting from burning paint cans and wood treated with hazardous chemicals. That same year, a Riverside County court fined the landfill. and ordered him to pay $46. 9 million to cover up the site.
The Times also reported that fires continued to be a factor in the landfill in 2007, even after its closure, and many were likely caused by “spontaneous combustion,” while others were classified as “suspicious. “