$14.5 Million Windstorm Damage Bill Hits City Council

After the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the State of California refused to cover last year’s massive cleanup tab, the City seems set to raise fees to cover costs.

The “after action” report presented by Assistant City Manager Julie Gutierrez to the Council on Monday night recaps the event itself, “lessons learned” and the city costs.

The size and scope of the event and the costs are large indeed – the report’s total puts the tab at $14.5 million.

“From the beginning,” Gutierrez writes, “it was expected that the disaster would qualify for federal and state disaster funds.”

Federal and state officials – despite lobbying from Pasadena officials and others from nearby cities – have so far refused to agree to pay for any emergency aid.

Many Pasadena departments, already faced with right budgetary restrictions, will be required to dip into reserves and unallocated funds to cover costs of the cleanup operations.

The Public Works Dept. is confronted with a $3,616,549 bill. Gutierrez says in her report that a proposed rate increase in the Refuse Fund is planned to cover those costs.

The size of the storm was massive.

Gutierrez said that Pasadena police received 2,113 911 emergency calls during the storm. The fire department responded to numerous building partial collapses and fires, including one where four burn victims needed rescue.

Pasadena’s electrical system suffered outages caused by fallen trees and wires shorting. A total of 19 of 112 primary circuits were affected. 100 transformers 40,000 feet (7.5 miles) of damaged cable, and 30 poles required temporary and/or permanent replacement.

The Pasadena Public Works Department logged 1,382 incidents thru Friday, December 1st with 6,407 total incidents. Fifty traffic signals were damaged (eight were Caltranssignals), 55 street lights were structurally damaged and 375 street lights required repair.

City building inspectors examined hundreds of structures and ended up red-tagging 54 housing units as unsafe. Well over 200 structures sustained serious damage citywide.

In the end, the costs total $14.5 million.

Pasadena City Council Hit with $14.5 Million Windstorm Cleanup