River flooding displaces dozens of RV park residents

Jasmine Trybom and several other residents at Catfish Camp RV Park packed as much as they could and moved their trailers to higher ground before the San Joaquin River spilled over its banks early Sunday.

Other residents, such as her sister, weren’t able to move their trailers in time. The river, which is expected to continue to rise, flooded their homes and ruined a lot of their belongings.

“They might just be trailers, but these are our homes,” Trybom said Sunday afternoon as she and other residents stood along Crows Landing Road surveying the damage at Catfish Camp.

Stanislaus County sheriff’s deputies and county Office of Emergency Services officials over the weekend had spoken to residents at Catfish Camp, strongly recommending that they move their trailers and RVs to higher ground, according to sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Anthony Bejaran.

He said the residents were not forced to evacuate the trailer park, but they were warned that the river would continue to rise and likely flood the RV park. Bejaran said authorities suggested that the residents move their belongings and vehicles out of harm’s way.

Lori Taylor has worked as a manager at Catfish Camp for the past two years. She says an official from a local fire department warned her Saturday that the river would continue to rise and that water pumps at the RV park weren’t going to make any difference once flooding started.

“He didn’t say, ‘You guys have to leave,’ ” Taylor said. “Not everyone has the means to leave.”

So, several stayed at the RV park until it was too late. Taylor left behind her son’s white Pontiac sedan surrounded Sunday by floodwater.

Bejaran said Catfish Camp residents were warned 36 hours before the water flooded the RV park. He said residents at Fisherman’s Bend RV park on River Road in Newman received the same kind of warning 72 hours before it was flooded.

Trybom had a friend haul out her trailer and park it along Crows Landing Road, just outside Catfish Camp. Her sister, Jenelle Wells, couldn’t move out her fifth-wheel trailer because they didn’t know someone with a pickup with appropriate towing attachments. She bought the trailer from someone who moved it into the RV park for her.

About 7 a.m. Sunday, Wells woke up to find floodwater had reached her trailer’s doorsteps. The trailer would have to stay behind in flooded Catfish Camp.

“By that time it was too late,” she said.

Wells’ sister and her brother-in-law helped her and her three children out of the trailer through the floodwater.

“I felt like things were stabbing my legs,” Trybom said about walking through the cold water.

Trybom and her sister said it would have been a lot easier to move their trailers and belongings had they received more advance warning, and that a 72-hour warning would have been enough. Trybom moved her trailer to higher ground, but she left behind a washing machine that could be seen floating in the flooded RV park Sunday.

Over the past few months, winter storms have pounded the Northern San Joaquin Valley with rain, along with snow and rain in the Sierra Nevada. The runoff has caused rivers and creeks throughout the region to run at high levels.

Authorities expect another storm to push through the area by the end of this week. Office of Emergency Services officials anticipate the water levels to continue to rise. On Sunday morning, authorities closed River Road between Crows Landing Road and Hills Ferry Road because water was spilling onto the road. By Sunday afternoon, authorities had closed Grayson Road between Cox Road and Shiloh Road due to flooding.

Sheriff’s officials warned those residents with trailers parked just outside Catfish Camp that floodwater will likely spill onto Crows Landing Road, so they should move their trailers.

“I have to move my trailer, but we don’t know where to go,” Trybom said.

Red Cross officials arrived at Catfish Camp on Saturday afternoon, according to Trybom, and gave residents a list of homeless shelters to call if they needed a temporary place to stay. On Sunday afternoon, Red Cross officials returned to Catfish Camp, saying they were trying to set up a temporary shelter for dozens of displaced residents.

Trybom and her sister have no relatives who live nearby. Their mother lives in San Luis Obispo, so they were planning to grab their belongings and move to the temporary shelter.

This story was originally published February 12, 2017 at 6:01 PM with the headline "River flooding displaces dozens of RV park residents."