Flooding leaves SLO County homeless residents with nowhere to go: ‘I’m so distraught’

San Luis Obispo resident Christine “Lori” Wilmowski woke up Jan. 9 to the sight of spiders invading her tent.

When she rushed outside to avoid them, Wilmowski recalled, she discovered that the arachnids had entered her tent to escape torrents of rain.

That wasn’t the only thing that concerned the 55-year-old woman, who was living at a campsite beside San Luis Obispo Creek near the Los Osos Valley Road entrance to Highway 101.

The creek’s level had increased by about six inches overnight. And the water was still rising.

“It just came up so high. It just came up so fast,” Wilmowski recalled.

Much of SLO County’s homeless population scrambled to escape deadly flooding in January that made previously safe areas to camp, sleep and take shelter uninhabitable.

Across the county, homeless service providers reported increased levels of engagement with that community as requests for help rolled in.

While leaders of local nonprofit organizations said their programs did a good job dealing with increased service needs during the worst of the storm, many members of the unhoused community reported difficulties staying safe and dry.

Wendy Blacker, an outreach worker for Transitions-Mental Health Association in San Luis Obispo, said that “the loss of personal property due to this storm was at maximum loss” for people living at homeless camps.

She described the task of recovering that lost property as “akin to rebuilding a city after a major disaster.”

“Now is the time to reach out to the homeless individuals of this county the most,” she said.

Police cleared encampments ahead of storm

Brian Amoroso, administrative captain for the San Luis Obispo Police Department, said the Community Action Team and the San Luis Obispo City Fire Department’s Mobile Crisis Unit spent the week before the storm speaking with unhoused residents living near or in creeks, parks and bridges to warn them of the coming storm.

“During the storm, police and fire were assisting with evacuations throughout the community and contacted 30-plus people at various camps to tell them to move,” Amoroso told The Tribune via email. “Those locations included the creek at Santa Rosa Park, the Marsh Street Bridge, Toro Street Bridge, the area between Highway 101 and the Elks Lodge, and areas near railroad tracks.”

San Luis Obispo County Homeless Services Division manager Joe Dzvonik said the county’s efforts to aid homeless community members during the storm were funneled through existing service providers, who expanded warming center capacities and hours of availability, and addressed capacity issues as they occurred.

Not all unhoused residents accepted that aid, Dzvonik said.

“Those agencies encouraged them to leave riverbeds, creek beds and other locations across the county where floodwaters were likely to produce life-threatening conditions and offered assistance where accepted,” Dzvonik told The Tribune. “It is my understanding most chose to stay put.”

To date, he added, officials haven’t received any reports of dead or missing homeless individuals because of the flood.

Outreach teams contacted around 100 people during the storms, Amoroso said.

Of that number, 15 accepted temporary housing, food, mental health and substance abuse treatment and social service referrals, he said.

According to Amoroso, other residents of Santa Rosa Park and the Bob Jones City-to-the-Sea Trail were given transportation to 40 Prado Homeless Services Center after the storm, as they began to re-establish their camps there.

“After the storm, one camp was moved, twice, off the Los Osos Valley Road Bridge and rides to 40 Prado were provided to four people,” Amoroso said. “This was done as the camp was established on a sidewalk next to moving traffic and it was very unsafe for the campers and drivers.”

The city worked with the Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County (CAPSLO) to shelter unhoused residents during the storm, filling a total of 118 beds on Jan. 9 and 110 beds Jan. 10, Amoroso said.

Jack Lahey, director of homeless services at CAPSLO, said these numbers were higher; on Jan. 9, 167 beds were occupied between 40 Prado’s shelter and its warming center, while 131 beds were filled the following day.

Lahey said that on Jan. 9 and 10, more than 700 total meals were served, and a total of 259 households were sheltered in motels and safe parking programs on Jan. 9 followed by 223 more the next day.

Woman loses SLO campsite to flooding

Wilmowski had been living next to San Luis Obispo Creek for about a year when much of her campsite was swept away by the flooding during the Jan. 9 storm.

She shared that campsite with her boyfriend, Paul, who has one leg.

Worried about his ability to escape the flooding, she left the creekbed to find someone to help him to the road.

By the time she and a helper returned, the river had risen by two feet, Wilmowski said.

Wilmowski then pitched another tent at the top of the hill, which eventually flooded, so she moved to the sidewalk beside Los Osos Valley Road a few days later with her boyfriend and a few other people.

When the storm broke for a few hours, police ordered Wilmowski and the others to leave the sidewalk and confiscated their possessions, she said.

“The police came and just freaking took everything of ours and took it away, right with us there,” Wilmowski said.

Wilmowski’s group migrated to the nearby entrance of the Bob Jones Trail.

“I’m so distraught over everything going on right now,” Wilmowski said. “I got a one-legged man I’m taking care of right now, and he’s getting screwed up over this whole thing.”

On Tuesday morning, while Wilmowski dried her belongings in the sun, police ticketed her and her group for illegal camping.

“This flood comes and all of a sudden they’re hounding us everywhere we go,” Wilmowski said of the police. “They probably wanted us to get washed away in the flood.”

Homeless man weathers storm next to SLO Creek

Before the rains started, the San Luis Obispo Police Department told 60-year-old George Jodry to leave his campsite next to San Luis Obispo Creek , he said.

Jodry didn’t, and on Jan. 9, he woke up in a puddle in his tent.

During the storm, he had to contend with “cold, wet, heavy sleeping bags” and sopping clothes, he said.

“It’s been very, very miserable,” said Jodry, who put plastic bags over his socks to keep his feet dry. “Very wet and cold.”

Sometimes he would stay up all night because his body temperature would drop while he slept, and he was afraid of dying from hypothermia.

“My tent blew away, so it fell apart,” Jodry said. “I’m claustrophobic as it is, and then you have all of these heavy sleeping bags on top of you soaking wet.”

Jodry could have gone to the 40 Prado shelter, he acknowledged, but he’s stayed there before and didn’t enjoy his experience.

“It’s way too institutional,” Jodry said. “You check in and you’re there all day.”

Jodry said he’s relieved that the storm is over, but added that he’s not looking forward to getting pushed around by law enforcement now that the sun is out. He said that police officers push him to live outside of the city limits on SLO County land, and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office then pushes him back into the city.

“You have people with houses that got flooded, and nobody’s complaining about them,” Jodry said. “Our house, it got washed away, and then we have police on us to move on.”

Shelter capacity stressed during peak days

Gavin, a 22-year-old unhoused person who did not provide his last name, said staying in local homeless shelters can be challenging because of the policies the providers have in place — particularly during periods of high occupancy.

At 40 Prado, clients who are staying the night must condense their belongings into two plastic tubs. That means they have to discard some of their items, Gavin said.

“It’s no way to build up the confidence and the security that a home provides,” Gavin said. “So a lot of people struggle.”

Lahey said this is a shelter policy intended to keep space available for clients.

However, Lahey said the shelter makes efforts to reach out to the owners of the stored possessions.

“We cannot take on more storage than that as often people leave their items here, and we have to dispose of them after 72 hours of non-contact,” he said.

During the storm and the cold snap that followed, 40 Prado allowed folks to camp out on the back loading dock, which sheltered them from the rain. The homeless services provider typically prohibits camping and sheltering on the property outside of the beds.

“Once the flood warning was gone, they kicked everybody out again,” Gavin said.

Lahey said no one was turned away Jan. 9 or 10, and all suspensions from the shelter were lifted during the storm.

“There is not a sanctioned encampment program here, nor will there be,” Lahey said. “We also have other nonprofits here on our campus and active construction projects. We cannot displace our service partners and work teams by having folks block doorways and loading areas and driving areas.”

On the streets, police started kicking unhoused people off of public property once the storm passed, Gavin said.

“Now that it’s finally starting to clear up — the water is going down and the sun’s coming out and drying everything out, and the police come and take everybody out,” Gavin said. “They want them out of sight and out of mind.”

“I’ve been woken up by police a lot,” Gavin said.

He said that police officers tell him to leave the area, but don’t offer help with finding housing — such as offering a hotel voucher for the night or directing him to a shelter.

“They just want you out of sight,” Gavin said “It hurts, because it feels like we’re an entire community that’s given no thought or a passing glance.”

Future of homeless care during disasters could change

Following January’s storms, several local service providers said they will take steps to aid clients who were affected physically or financially by the storm, or were displaced.

Wendy Lewis, president and CEO of El Camino Homeless Organization (ECHO), said demand for shelter and food spiked at the organization’s shelters in Atascadero and Paso Robles during the storm.

Many ECHO clients “lost everything” in the storm, Lewis said, including personal possessions.

“We were able to work with the community to have enough supplies to distribute and replace items that were lost due to the flooding and to help keep people warm and dry,” Lewis said. “Both of our shelters were at capacity and able to provide a safe place for 110 men, women and children.”

“Vital items” such as sleeping bags, shoes, jackets, ponchos, hand warmers, hot food and other resources were in high demand, Lewis said.

ECHO worked to replace these possessions as well as IDs and birth certificates, many of which were destroyed in the flooding, Lewis said.

The ECHO Atascadero shelter suffered some roof damage during the storm, Lewis said.

Janna Nichols, executive director of the 5Cities Homeless Coalition (5CHC), said the storm proved to be a “good test” of the coordination of the new county Homeless Services Division.

5CHC’s newly opened Cabins for Change program fared well, Nichols said, emerging from the storm without any flooding of the structures.

5CHC also started a storm relief fundraiser for unhoused and housed South County residents.

“We also have had several conversations with the county about emergency response involving those experiencing homelessness,” Nichols said. “With the new County Homeless Services Division, I think we have the ability to work more closely and efficiently regarding communication, key information points (i.e. Oceano evacuation) and a coordinated response.”

Dzvonik said the Homeless Services Division’s performance during the storm will be evaluated going forward.

“While communication between the (San Luis Obispo) County Emergency Operations Center, the Homeless Services Division and the service providers was effective, the Homeless Services Division is going to analyze our performance — with input directly from the service providers, city staffs, citizens and unhoused individuals — and to how improve all processes for the next significant event,” Dzvonik said.