HomeMy WebLinkAboutPriorities and Order of Events Tuesday August 22 Hurricane Hilary
Priorities For Reopening Palm Desert
Not all issues are quick fixes, so our teams are prioritizing our efforts to make the greatest impact to get
our city back in full functioning order.
• Getting roadways reopened in order of priority: arterials to residential streets
o Mitigating flood waters on roadways
o Clearing roads and sidewalks of tree debris
o Current road closures include (as of 9:00 a.m. 8/22/2023)
▪ Complete Closure
• Parkview - Monterey to Hwy 111
• Gerald Ford - Frank Sinatra to Cook
• Cook south of Gerald Ford intersection (one lane south will open by 9
am)
• Tamarisk Row - Gerald Ford to Country Club
▪ Partial Closure
• Cook/Gerald Ford intersection
• Dinah Shore westbound outer lane (#2)
• Getting traffic systems fully functional
o Some electrical systems for our traffic lights are underwater and are not serviceable until
floodwater recedes.
• Removing soil from roadways and sidewalks
• Remedying flood and storm damage to local parks
o Current Park closures include (as of 9:00 a.m. 8/22/2023):
▪ Freedom
▪ University Dog Park
▪ Civic small dog park
▪ Hovley Soccer Park
▪ Magnesia Falls playground
• Addressing damage to other public facilities and infrastructure
• Review reports of damage to private property and support where possible
ORDER OF EVENTS:
SUNDAY, 8/20/23
• 2:20 pm - Reports of localized flooding on El Paseo.
• 2:22 pm - Crew shutting down Fred Waring between Tennessee and California.
• 3:11 pm - Complete closure at Parkview Wash.
• 3:13 pm - Portola signal at Country Club in on a red flash.
• 3:15 pm - Fred Waring closed between Tennessee and CA- now being detoured thru Tennessee,
down Florida, down CA back to Fred Waring.
• 3:25 pm - Indian Wells closed Fred Waring Bridge for eastbound traffic.
• 3:27 pm - Gerald from Frank Sinatra to Cook impassable.
• 3:47 pm - Washington at Harris closed.
• 3:50 pm - Closing Gerald Ford east and west from Cook Street to Frank Sinatra.
• 3:56 pm - Lights on flash at Cook.
• 3:59 pm - Lights on flash highway 111 and Portola.
• 4:22 pm - Gerald Ford and Cook on flash closed Gerald Ford eastbound.
• 4:23 pm - All El Paseo Lights blacked out.
• 4:08 pm - Gerald Ford at Spanish Walk closed.
• 4:26 pm - Signals blacked out on Country Club.
• 4:29 pm - Tree down at Phyllis Jackson – Lane 3 blocked.
• 4:30 pm - Tree down at Cook Street.
• 4:34 pm - San Pablo trees down – roughly 20 of them.
• 4:33 pm - Many traffic lights are off on 111.
• 6:46 pm - Magnesia Falls and Portola blocked by fallen tree – lane 2.
• 5:00 pm - Downed tree – EB Fred Waring barricades down, put back up, and blown down again.
• 5:09 pm - Closing #1 lane Washington Street & Fred Waring (La Quinta side)
• 5:14 pm - Tree down southbound Cook Street north of Country Club. Blocking all lanes. Loader
en route to clear.
• 5:35 pm - Tree blocking Hwy 111 eastbound at Lupine
• 5:50 pm - need for Palm Desert Housing Authority assistance with flooding
• 6:03 pm - Hwy 111 back open
• 6:31 pm - Skyward at Hwy 74 closed. Tree down.
• 6:43 pm - Report of trees down at Haystack
• 7:36 pm - Grapevine Street closed due to trees down. Crews working to clear – approx. 2 hrs.
• 7:50 pm - Hwy 74 & Skyward will be cleared early tomorrow (8/21/23)
• 7:50 pm - Caliandra Street near Haystack is passable and will be cleared early tomorrow
(8/21/23)
• 8:21 pm - University dog park will likely need to remain closed all week
• 9:08 pm - Power outage north side Hwy 111 from San Pablo to Deep Canyon
• 9:49 pm - Portola south of Grapevine: tree down
ORDER OF EVENTS:
MONDAY, 8/21/23
Roads
• 7:00 am - Dam successfully diverted water – Tamarisk Row; Freedom Park; business park
expected to clear out
• 7:00 am - Tri-Star Construction continued working on adding material to repair the berm at the
north side of the City
• 7:10 am - Southbound Washington at Harris reopened
• 7:30 am - Two down light poles removed from Civic Center small dog park and near volleyball
courts
• 1:30 pm – Mid-Valley Channel overflows due to overcapacity of the waterway and floods section
of the Spanish Walk neighborhood. City assists County Fire on Spanish Walk evacuations: 34
homes red-tagged, transport vans loaned by Family YMCA of the Desert, Economic Development
and Public Works volunteer drivers, food and drinks purchased by Public Works
o 5 transported to the Red Cross shelter at Desert Mirage High School in Thermal
o 8 transported to the Courtyard by Marriott
o 2 transported to Marriott Residence Inn
o 1 transported to Embassy Suites Hotel
• 2:30 pm - Granite Construction built dam/berm to block water coming down Mid-Valley
Channel; completed 5:00 pm
• 5:30 pm - signals restored on Fred Waring Drive and Cook intersection
• 6:30 pm - Staff contacted by Riverside County Fire Chief McDonald that approximately 6
businesses were flooded on the north side of Country Club west of Washington Street. Building
and Safety was contacted to inspect the buildings, and the on-call streets personnel arrived to
close the parking lots
• 8:09 pm - Fred Waring lanes reopened
o Fred Waring & Warner Trail
o Fred Waring & California
o Fred Waring & Wash Westbound 2 lanes open; eastbound 1 lane open
End of day 8/21/2023
• Roads remaining closed
o Tamarisk from Gerald Ford to Country Club
o Major flooding at the entrance to Falcon Crest behind Hovley Soccer Park
o Portola & Haystack debris in the road
o Dinah Shore from Spyder to Gateway – mud and debris; road closed
• Signals
o Crew out making corrections; some pull boxes still underwater and unsafe to work on
o Street name sign on Hovley and Corporate
o Fallen stop sign on Hovley near Beacon Hill
o On flash:
o Cook & Gerald Ford
o Gerald Ford & Frank Sinatra
o Fred Waring & Warner
o Fred Waring & California
o Reaching out to St. Francis to assist getting signals back online
• Parks
o Park closures
▪ University Dog Park
▪ Civic Center small dog park
▪ Hovley Soccer Park
▪ Freedom Park
▪ Magnesia Falls Park
o Civic Center Park has multiple large trees and light poles down
o Bump & Grind entrance debris flow into Painter’s Path
ORDER OF EVENTS:
TUESDAY, 8/22/23
• 12:00 am - Reports from Merchants that water extraction/carpet cleaning completed at
Henderson Building and Parkview affected units
• 6:00 am - Freedom Park soccer field has drained; debris cleanup scheduled for 8/23/23
• 7:00 am - Two down trees were removed from the Hovley Soccer Park parking lot. The field was
mowed and the park reopened.
• 7:30 am - The shade structure removed from the small dog park at Civic Center, and park
reopened
• 8:30 am - West Coast Arborists removed three down trees from Baja Park that were blocking
sidewalks; will need to return to do more cleanup
• 9:00 am - Southbound Cook at Gerald Ford; #1 lane reopened
• 9:19 am - Artist Center roof repairs complete
• 9:29 am - West Coast Arborists arrived at Magnesia Falls Park to begin removing trees
• 9:30 am - pump trucks arrive to dewater Spanish Walk area
• 10:00 am - Clearing tree debris and sediment from Tamarisk Row closure and Gerald Ford
closure with assistance of a front-end loader, backhoe, and two street sweepers from CTI, Martin
contractors
• 10:00 am - University Park is still not safe to reopen; contractor being assigned to re-establish
the slopes
• 11:11 am - Westbound Parkview from Joshua to Hwy 111 reopened; eastbound still closed
ORDER OF EVENTS:
WEDNESDAY, 8/23/23
• West Coast Arborists large removal crew scheduled for Magnesia Falls Park / Palm Desert
Charter Middle School
• WCA will move to Haystack as time permits