San Jose flood victims sue city, county, water district for negligence

Gelman Ruano surveys the scene on Nordale Avenue from the Coyote Creek flood in San Jose on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017. Gelman Ruano surveys the scene on Nordale Avenue from the Coyote Creek flood in San Jose on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 63 Caption Close San Jose flood victims sue city, county, water district for negligence 1 / 63 Back to Gallery

Sinia Ellis remembers seeing the water creep higher and higher, until she saw no option but to place her purse and a few belongings in a plastic bag and wait for a boat to help her escape from the flood invading her San Jose home.

On Thursday, nearly a year since officials for the 10th largest city in the nation were caught off guard by a historic flood, Ellis joined more than 150 other households to announce a lawsuit against San Jose, Santa Clara County and the Santa Clara Valley Water District, which oversees flood protection for 1.8 million people.

The suit claims officials for all three agencies were negligent in preparing for last winter’s storms, as well as reacting to warning signs that spillover at Anderson Dam would cause Coyote Creek to surge its banks on Feb. 21, 2017.

In total, the flood caused more than $100 million in property damage and the ordered evacuation of 14,000 people from their homes. Hundreds of residents in the Rock Springs neighborhood required emergency rescue services in the early morning hours.

“I felt like we were nothing. We didn’t matter to the city,” Ellis said. “I feel like we were swept aside.”

Attorneys Amanda Hawes and Suzanne Murphy filed the complaint Thursday in Santa Clara County Superior Court, alleging the property damage caused by the flood was due to officials’ “failure to properly give timely notice to residents.” The lawsuit also blames spillover at Anderson Dam, which is managed by the water district, and the subsequent flooding around Coyote Creek on a “failure to properly and reasonably design, control, maintain and operate” both spaces.

“The city of San Jose, the water district and the county should accept responsibility for what was a preventable absolute nightmare,” Hawes said. “People have suffered in many different ways.”

Officials for the city and water district have publicly sparred over who should shoulder more of the blame for the flood, but San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo was one of the first to acknowledge that the city’s response was inadequate.

“When you see a situation like this, we realize there was a failure,” he said last year.

Liccardo was not immediately available to comment on the lawsuit.

Kip Harkness, a deputy city manager for San Jose, said the city has since improved its emergency alert system and implemented stricter flood prevention measures.

“We can’t reverse the flood and we could not have prevented it as a city, but we can be compassionate with our response and help people recover the lives that they want to lead,” he said.

AlertSCC, a voluntary subscription service managed by the county, has had its reach expanded so wireless emergency alerts are sent to any smartphone in the coverage area. The system was tested during the 2017 heat wave and reached 3 million contacts, according to Ray Riordan, San Jose’s Office of Emergency Management director. He filled the position after it sat vacant months before the flood.

In October, directors for the water district voted to reduce the storage level of Anderson Reservoir to its emergency pool level of 20,000 acre-feet at the start of each winter. This decision should provide greater protection against spillover, officials said. The reservoir’s storage capacity is 90,373 acre-feet.

“We’re keeping those levels down,” said Richard Santos, the district’s board chair. “I think we’re just way better prepared than we were before.”

Residents of the Rock Springs neighborhood have argued that’s not good enough. They still want to know what went wrong, Ellis said, and why many people didn’t receive a warning until firefighters were at their doors conducting rescue operations.

Ellis said the flood destroyed her Honda Odyssey van and she was displaced from her home for four months.

“I want them to take responsibility,” she said. “That’s what I want from the complaint.”

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno