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Dam emergency plan updated

BY DAVID BURGER, Californian staff writer
e-mail: dburger@bakersfield.com | Tuesday, Aug 29 2006 10:10 PM

Last Updated: Tuesday, Aug 29 2006 10:14 PM

The Bakersfield police and fire departments on Tuesday released an evacuation plan to handle a possible failure of the Isabella Dam.

The plan essentially directs people to high ground before flood waters reach populated areas. It is estimated residents would have five hours to spare before flooding would reach the valley's populated areas.

The 20-year-old plan was revised following concerns this summer about the structural integrity of the two dams at Isabella Lake, Police Chief Bill Rector said when the revision was started.

Isabella Lake, about 40 miles northeast of Bakersfield, was drained to a lower depth after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers detected seepage, or minor leaks, in the auxiliary dam earlier this year. The Corps wants to speed up repairs, but a fix could be as long as a decade away. Compounding matters, the lake is also near a major earthquake fault, a shift of which could result in a break in the dam.

In the evacuation plan, Bakersfield is divided into four parts of town: northwest, southwest, southeast and northeast. The following are among the recommendations of where to evacuate to:

Northwest: Travel to the north on Highway 99 or west on Rosedale Highway.

Northeast: Evacuation may not be necessary, since much of the area is above the flood plain. Those who need to evacuate should go anywhere except to the north because northern routes may be cut off due to flooding. Going east is recommended, due to traffic congestion on western routes.

Southwest: Travel to the west via Stockdale Highway, Panama Lane or Taft Highway, or south on Highway 99 or Gosford Road.

Southeast: Travel to the south via Highway 99 or Fairfax Road, or west on Highway 58 or Panama Lane.

In general, it has been projected that the area north of Niles Street and east of River Boulevard up to Panorama Drive and east from there would be above the flood level. Places in that vicinity to evacuate to include Bakersfield College, East Bakersfield High School and Foothill High School.

The plan will be available to the public when it is posted on the police Web site (www.bakersfieldpd.us) within several days, police Detective Greg Terry said.