Watershed Council News: January 31, 2013

Feb. 7 Watershed Council (Flood Focused) Meeting Agenda
1969 Flood
1969 Flood, Live Oak Acres.     Photo courtesy of Ventura County Star

We’re going to talk about floods at next week’s Watershed Council meeting. Please plan to come and share your ideas and concerns. The meeting will be held from 8:30 to 11:30 am on Thursday, February 7, in the Topping Room of the EP Foster Library, 651 E. Main St., Ventura.

Sergio Vargas, Deputy Director, Ventura County Watershed Protection District, will provide a presentation on ArkStorm preparedness modeling and preparations his agency has been involved with. They’ve been using the Santa Clara River in the modeling, but the lessons are applicable to our watershed (more info below). We’ll have a presentation on the 1969 flood, the most damaging in recent times; and I’ll provide a look at some of the flooding profile data I’ve been compiling for our watershed management plan. Then we’ll have a discussion and collect concerns and ideas for inclusion in the watershed management plan.

The ArkStorm Movie – California Megastorm Video

To get you primed for next week’s ArkStorm presentation, here is a three-minute video describing the ArkStorm and what can be done to prepare for this “megastorm” scenario.

In addition to floods, we’ll hear from the Bren students again on their Ventura River project, get an update from the Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment subcommittee, and get updates from the Watersheds Coalition of Ventura County.

Meeting Agenda

Check Out the New Watershed Map Viewer!
It is simple, but Oh so friendly.
The Ventura River Watershed Council website has been upgraded, and one of the upgrades is this groovy new map tool. You can see the watershed boundary, the subwatersheds, the groundwater basins and the FEMA flood zones. You can zoom in. And you can see all this in satellite, terrain or map views. Check it out! Click on “Maps” on the menu bar.

Maps

1969 Flood at 150 A

1969 Flood, Hwy 150 in East Ojai.     Photo courtesy of Ventura County Star

 

Flood and bridge washout

1969 Flood.     Photo courtesy of Ventura County Star