1,500 San Jose residents still displaced after devastating flood
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Around 1,500 San Jose residents are still displaced by last month's devastating flood, according to Mayor Sam Liccardo's office.
Many of those residents are staying with friends, or in hotels. Less than 50 people are still living in shelters.
The flooding on February 21st caused $73 million in damage to both private property and public infrastructure. State and county leaders visited with flood victims Saturday.
RELATED: Animals impacted by San Jose flooding
"These were pulled out to check the electrical that was pulled out to check the gasoline," resident Jolene Noel told ABC7.
Still dark due to electrical wiring Jolene Noel walks through her broken and musty house on South 20th Street. "This is the basement and it was flooded up to this second stair on February 21st.
It was almost a month ago that Coyote Creek flooded many San Jose neighborhoods.
The Noel family evacuated and have been staying with family ever since.
RESOURCES: San Jose flood evacuation info and how to help
"It smells like mold. This is what we're living with. I can't live in this house until we find someone to do the remediation and that's been kind of a long process," Noel said. "We were out of there 20 minutes after seeing the water."
Jolene and Charlie Powell used to rent across the street from the Noel family until their apartment flooded without warning. They lost most of their belongings and may have to move out of the Bay Area to afford another rental.
"The thing that frustrates us is we thought at least maybe we'd get something from the flood victim fund, but we don't qualify because he makes too much money," Powell said.
Both the Powell and Noel families say they've been unable to get monetary assistance from the city of San Jose or multiple non-profits equipped to help flood victims, so we notified Paul Pereira, with the mayor's office.
"Thank you for alerting us about that, we're going to make sure to loop back with people."
But city officials say it's unclear if there's enough money for everyone.
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren says the needs of more flood victims should be met. "I think we need to step up a little bit more," Lofgren said.
PHOTOS: Flood waters rip through San Jose causing damage, evacuations
