Problems are just starting for some San Jose residents flooded out of their homes after the latest round of rain soaked an already saturated Bay Area.
San Jose city officials and the Santa Clara Valley Water District are working on trying to prevent Penitencia Creek from overflowing, which it also did two years ago, and forcing nearby residents to evacuate due to flooding.
"Nothing prepares you for this," said Lisa Rhines, one of the many residents displaced by flooding at the Betty Ann Gardens apartments.
Penitencia Creek runs alongside the apartment complex, which was inundated by the creek overflowing at the peak of Thursday's storm.
Rhines and 39 other tenants are staying at a Holiday Inn until they are able to return home. They are not sure how long they will be displaced.
"I don't want to be rushed back into living in a quarters that's not livable," Rhines said.
San Jose Councilmember David Cohen spent Thursday and Friday at the Betty Ann Gardens apartments assessing damage. He said this week marks the second time major flooding has hit the area off Lundy Avenue.
"The waterway doesn't have the capacity for the amount of flow that comes out of the hills when there's a large atmospheric river that comes through," Cohen said. "City administration will be reaching out to Valley Water to find out what they will be doing to make sure that there's an improvement in that capacity."
Cohen said he hopes to arrange a meeting with the city and water district to get everyone on the same page.
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