http://marinij.com/marin/ci_3365020 San Anselmo deals with destruction
| Joe Wolfcale |
On Sunday, it was horrific. The 62-year-old San Anselmo receptionist barely escaped with her life in the early morning hours Saturday as the normally calm and gentle creek that meanders underneath businesses in town became a roiling torrent of water and destruction. After helping save the life of an 80-year-old neighbor, Ziff survived with a friend who lived in an upstairs apartment while the raging stormwaters flooded her Sycamore Avenue unit, ruining all her belongings and forcing her to rebuild her life. "I have no home to go back to," said Ziff, who was staying temporarily with friends who lived on nearby Bolinas Avenue. | |||||||||||||||||
All first-floor tenants at 114 Sycamore Ave. were dealing with the same flooding that swept through the neighborhood early Saturday. Most sought immediate refuge in the second-floor units of friends.
Ziff said she was awakened early in the morning by the sensor horn that sounds when waters reach the top of the nearby bridges over the creek. It had happened before in previous winters so she wasn't particularly alarmed and went back to sleep.
Finally around 3 a.m., she was awakened by the winds, and once she put her feet on the apartment floor, she found she was standing in water.
"I figured I shouldn't turn on any lights at that point," Ziff said. "I put on my robe and a nightgown, grabbed a few things, my purse and my keys and went out into the driveway. It was like a rushing lake.
"At that point, I was just hoping against hope that I'd be able to get out. I think I was just hoping it wouldn't flood. So I found my neighbor and stayed with her until help came."
On Sunday, friends and strangers were cleaning Ziff's apartment, or what was left of it. The water line was about 2 feet high and everything had been removed, right down to the saturated carpet.
Outside on the patio, a huge corner of pavement had been lifted out of place, mud was everywhere and pieces of patio furniture and planters were strewn about.
"It was really cute, the patio," Ziff said. "I used to sit out there and have lunch. It was so quiet. You almost felt like you were in Europe. It was a wonderful little place."
Ziff had lived in the apartment since 2002. She has been a Jehovah Witness for more than 30 years and believes everything will work itself out.
"I've been making all these little lists in my head, but I believe I'll leave things in God's hands," Ziff said.
Wyatt and Cat Bessing live next door at the Sycamore Creek Apartments. Their apartment still bore the water level marks of the 1982 floods. Saturday's early morning floods left a mark about half as high on a closet door.
"About 4:30, we left and went upstairs to our friend's after we saw the water sweep
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| San Anselmo Mayor Barbara Thornton walks down Sycamore Ave. on Sunday to check that resident's needs for dumpsters and volunteers are being met. (IJ photo/Zachary Kaufman) | |
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More than 3 inches of muck sat on the Bessings' deck, amid tree branches and other debris brought onto their first-floor deck by the flooding. As the educational special tutor sifted through the couple's belongings, volunteers began helping them sort through the rubble.
The Sycamore Avenue neighborhood was a flurry of activity on Sunday. Residents power-washed household items, another neighbor shoveled mud and debris as one garbage bin parked in the middle of the street began to fill. A persistent sprinkle quickly turned to a more consistent rain as residents and tenants continued to clean before nightfall.
San Anselmo Mayor Barbara Thornton surveyed much of the damage on Sycamore Avenue and the surrounding neighborhoods.
"It's just devastating," Thornton said. "We're just trying to assess who we can help our neighbors in town. The outpouring of support from the community has been remarkable."
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