San Jose crews begin to mop up after flood devastates neighborhoods
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- City crews are hard at work in San Jose trying to pave the way for residents to return home after a flood devastated the RockSprings neighborhood.
It's ironic that it takes water to clean up a flood. City crews were using high-pressure hoses to clear away mud now that floodwaters are receding.
The number of people displaced is dropping too, from 14,000 yesterday to 3,800 Thursday.
RESOURCES: San Jose flood evacuation info and how to help
Mayor Sam Liccardo went door to door to talk to residents where the evacuation order has been lifted.
"Everybody's garbage floated into our yard. How are we supposed to get it out? We need a dumpster," resident Glenda Anderson said.
Residents living in the hardest hit RockSprings neighborhood won't be going home just yet.
"The reoccupation will probably be phased based on our ability to clear and also I think we're going to find some structures inhabitable and others will be," Dave Sykes with the San Jose city manager's office said.
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Utility services are cut off for the entire area, but as residents are cleared to return their service can be restored.
"We can cut the main electrical panels at those individual structures. This is already happening in the William Street neighborhood where you might have three homes side by side where only one can be reoccupied, and this neighborhood will eventually get to that phase," San Jose Fire Department Assistant Chief Robert Sapien told ABC7.
This sanitary pump station is also a major obstacle preventing people from going home. It was flooded and crews have been working to repair it.
Despite the mandatory evacuation, a few residents have managed to sneak in to see damage to their apartments. Tomas Hernandez says he and his family will need to start over. "I went this morning inside but it's a total disaster inside. The floor is coming up. It's all messed up."
PHOTOS: Flood waters rip through San Jose causing damage, evacuations
