Newsom orders state agencies to speed El Nino flood work Play

One day after California State Parks said it would not bulldoze the Malibu Creek area to save houses and businesses from a looming threat of flooding, the governor may be pushing things along.

Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered all state agencies to assist local governments with emergency flood control projects. The governor ordered state agencies to procure materials, goods and services necessary to quickly assist local governments to prevent El Nino emergencies.

But last Monday, California State Parks had told Malibu officials that Malibu Creek residents are on their own to bulldoze fire debris that washed out of the mountains into a creek bed near their homes.

Just above the lagoon, residents say Malibu Creek is so full of rocks that any water flowing out of the Santa Monica Mountains will almost certainly flood businesses along Cross Creek Road, and the houses east of the creek in the Serra Retreat subdivision.

Down in Orange County on Monday, a giant crack that had developed underneath Pacific Coast Highway drew the governor and his video crew. The governor announced he had just signed an executive order to strengthen state agencies' flood preparedness along Pacific Coast Highway and the entire California coast.

He said it's a preview of things to come, and criticized the Trump White House for failing to step in with federal tax money — tax money from California — to help California deal with the crisis.

Compare that governor's pledge to help with the state parks reaction when the City Council asked California State Parks whether it would do flood control at the Malibu Lagoon.

At Monday night's meeting, Superintendent Richard Fink said State Parks won't be looking for work designed to mitigate flood impacts. He otld the coty council that State Parks cannot move without hydraulic reports suggesting how water would behave if vegetation were removed or sediment pushed.

He said they'll look at invasive plants and potentially removing some fuels within the creek bed, but stressed that is not a flood control project.

The governor on Monday specifically ordered that such reports and studies to be eliminated — just do the work. The details have yet to be shaken out, but the governor's office wants state agencies to prepare Pacific Coast Highway and the surrounding communities for potential damage from El Nino.

This certainly sounds like scraping out Malibu Creek. Don't forget: it's owned by California State Parks both upstream and downstream of the flood danger area at Malibu Cross Creek.