Trailer park residents evacuate as river rises near Newman. Help sought on fundraising site
Danita Corley got a visit from a sheriff’s deputy Tuesday evening and started moving her trailer park tenants out of harm’s way.
She is the live-in manager at Catfish Camp, next to the rising San Joaquin River about six miles north of Newman. The waterway is still several feet from flooding, but law enforcement is playing it safe.
“The (deputy) just came and said we’re expecting 10 days of rain and one of the storms looks like a typhoon,” Corley told The Modesto Bee around noon Wednesday.
The evacuation order came amid a winter that has brought one storm after another to California. Ample reservoir space has so far prevented widespread flooding in Stanislaus County.
The county’s largest evacuation so far is 54 residents Monday from the San Luis Care Center in Newman. They were moved as a precaution to other centers as Orestimba Creek swelled.
Catfish Camp is in an evacuation zone on the east side of River Road between Crows Landing Road and Hills Ferry Road. People on the west side of River Road got an advisory that they might have to leave at some point, too.
Most of this area is sparsely populated farmland. Catfish Camp has 26 residents in 18 trailers, an easy walk to a river that usually is calm enough to cast a fishing line, Corley said.
Almost all of the trailers had been hauled up to the roadside by noon Tuesday, but they had no power or water hookups. Residents can park them temporarily at the evacuation center at Yolo Middle School in Newman, but none was there as of early afternoon.
Corley has run Catfish Camp since 2018, arriving one year after another wet winter closed the park for four months. She hopes nothing like that happens again, especially because most other parks do not accept RVs as old as those under her management.
Chris Wright has had his trailer at Catfish Camp since 2020 and gets by on disability payments. He said he might stay with family in Lathrop but is concerned about other residents who evacuated.
“Everybody’s here because they’re stuck on a really tight fixed income and they can’t afford to get into anything else,” Wright said.
The San Joaquin had reached 61.5 feet above sea level Wednesday near Newman, the National Weather Service reported. It is projected to peak at 64.9 feet Monday, Jan. 16, which is 4.5 feet short of flooding.
Water managers have to be cautious, though, as storms continue to hit this river and its tributaries in the San Joaquin Valley.
Light rain fell as Corley spoke at the park entrance on Crows Landing Road. She said one trailer already was in such bad shape that it fell apart as it was being hauled out. The residents are in a motel for now.
Corley is seeking donations via a GoFundMe page to help all of her tenants during the emergency.
“There’s about 26 of us, elderly, disabled and bedridden amongst us,” she wrote. “17 trailers all along a highway with no barrier or shield from drivers. Anything will help us get through.”
This story was originally published January 11, 2023 at 5:55 PM.
