What's at stake?
Before Nemeth’s visit, no agencies took responsibility for decisions about the flooding in Allensworth. The small town is under the jurisdiction of the Deer Creek Storm Water District.
Some state officials have finally taken notice of Allensworth, the historic Black community in Tulare County that is on the brink of severe flooding.
Karla Nemeth, director of the state Department of Water Resources, toured Allensworth on March 24, to meet with community leaders to discuss issues and potential solutions.
Allensworth sits in the natural Tulare Lake bed which was drained by farmers over 100 years ago. But the recent string of storms has overwhelmed the valley’s water infrastructure and the lake is reforming.
For Allensworth, one of the most pressing concerns is overflow from the White River which is pouring into the east side of town and threatening homes. That was one of the issues community members discussed with Nemeth.
After seeing the problem, Nemeth told residents that she’d meet with her engineers and see if there was something that could be done quickly about the White River flow, said Kayode Kadara, community leader in Allensworth who met with Nemeth.
“We really, really appreciate her coming out because this is probably the most senior person that has been out to visit with us since,” said Kadara. “It’s not an immediate solution but at least somebody is now saying, ‘hey, we need to work on something here.’”
“The desire is for the department to be able to come up with technical ideas,” said Nemeth in a DWR video of the tour.
Before Nemeth’s visit, no agencies took responsibility for decisions about the flooding in Allensworth. The small town is under the jurisdiction of the Deer Creek Storm Water District.
Over the weekend, Red Cross dropped off supplies to residents in Allensworth.
The water flowing from the White River is coming through property owned by the Burlington, Northern, Santa Fe Railroad. Community members in Allensworth have been frustrated that BNSF hasn’t halted the flow toward the community.
BNSF has offered to make a donation to a nonprofit that supports Allensworth, said Kadara. The money would help some residents down the road but it still isn’t a solution to the problem at hand, he added.
“This was just, ‘hey, maybe if we give them some money it’ll shut them up,’ but they forgot who they’re dealing with out here,” said Kadara. “We will keep fighting. We’ll keep asking questions. We don’t have a choice at this point.”
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to change an inaccurate statement that the community of Allensworth was not covered by a flood control district. The Deer Creek Storm Water District has jurisdiction over Allensworth, and its staff has been working with the community on flooding issues.