Governor Declares State Of Emergency in Los Angeles County; Pasadena Residents Asked To Report Damage

California Gov. Jerry Brown has proclaimed a State of Emergency covering 50 counties in the state, after receiving initial damage reports from the January rainstorms.

With the proclamation, residents and businesses in Pasadena and throughout the state are advised to actively participate in collecting damage assessment information.

In a press release Tuesday, Los Angeles County’s Office of Emergency Management said it has started an online survey to collect information on property damage, through a Damage Assessment Survey on www.211LA.org.

“With about two months of the winter season remaining, it is important residents become familiar with a process the Office of Emergency Management conducts to report property damages caused by the recent storms,” the statement said. “Los Angeles County would like residents to take action by reporting how much damage was sustained at their homes by completing a survey.”

Residents can also call 211 to get up to date information and referrals for assistance.

In Pasadena, Fire Department Spokesperson Lisa Derderian said the City did not suffer significant much damage during the storms, but homeowners must still report any type of damage to their property.

“Fortunately, we didn’t have very many responses (or calls for assistance) and those trees that were downed were on private property, so our responsibility was to clear it from the streets for ingress-egress for vehicles and emergency personnel,” Derderian said. “But it doesn’t mean that homeowners had situations that did not necessitate calling the fire department. So what this 211 is set up to do now through the county is encourage residents who have had damage to call.”

Derderian said even residents who have their own insurance still need to get an overall damage assessment dollar amount “to help support the state and possibly federal declarations.”

Derderian said after the survey, the county would likely provide the City of Pasadena with a list of residents or businesses that have called 211 or responded to the survey for the City’s knowledge.

Asked if this would mean some form of money to compensate for storm damage, Derderian said it could lead to such a benefit, but that it is important to get the numbers in first.

“We have to start with the assessment first to determine what kind of damage has been done, and then the state will, hopefully, depending on the dollar amount, then try to get a federal declaration,” Derderian said. “But if not, there’s still maybe several different ways for residents to get reimbursed, including possibly low-cost loans. We’re asking residents to do this as soon as possible.”

Derderian was thankful there wasn’t much damage in Pasadena during the storms, saying it could be the result of an active education campaign the City conducted in preparation for El Nino.

She said the coming weekend will be a good opportunity for cleaning up debris before the next rain comes. At the same time, she advised people to exercise caution when going out especially to areas that could have ground severely affected by the rain, including mountain and canyon areas where the soil may not be stable yet.

“It’s great to go out there, we don’t want to keep people away from nature, but you have to be prepared and we also have to be cautious,” Derderian said. “Don’t try to do things that you see on YouTube or on Facebook that could just lead to putting yourself and our firefighters in danger.”